Since Adidas designed triple-striped uniforms for the Soviet team at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the sportswear brand has held a special place in the hearts of Russians. Symbolic of the country’s hard-won embrace of Western trends, the German sportswear brand is a hallmark of Russian street style, thanks in large part to its tracksuits. And thus the hype that has surrounded Moscow-bred designer Gosha Rubchinskiy’s collaboration with Adidas has hardly been a surprise
Over the weekend in Yekaterinburg, Rubchinskiy debuted the collaboration’s latest football-inspired designs—and took brand loyalty to a new extreme (even by his standards). One model, clad in a sweatshirt emblazoned with “Россия” (which translates to Russia), walked the runway with his head clean shaven except for a stamp of fuzz in the shape of Adidas’s iconic mountain logo. Though an instant hit on Instagram, the hair look, equal parts committal and high impact, is not for the faint of heart. But—let’s be real—with logomania reaching a fever pitch, a show of brand support by way of an electronic razor certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility.