All clothing by Adidas SLVR. Shoes by Dr. Martens. Models own jewelry.

DIRK FOR SLVR

“Sport style” seems to be an oxymoronic concept, but that was precisely the purview given to German designer Dirk Schönberger when he was named head of Adidas’s Sport Style Division (Y-3, Originals, SLVR, Porsche Design Sport, and Neo) last summer. “Today I think that sport and style are one. Since street- and sportswear entered high fashion, it has lost its contradictory feel,” he says.

Schönberger’s early career was strangely predictive of his latest role. He spent three years with Dirk Bikkembergs, whose menswear line is inextricably linked to the world of football. Then, after ten years designing his own men’s and women’s lines and two more as creative director for German contemporary clothing and cosmetics company JOOP!, his career has come full-circle back to sports-inspired fashion.

Now his first collection for SLVR is finally in stores and the world has been given a first-hand look at what exactly that fusion of style and sportswear means to Schönberger when he is handed the resources of a monster corporation and told to let his imagination run wild. Hint: his well-known eye for tailoring did not go to waste. “My idea about SLVR is to create modern, more constructed sportswear—German sportswear that has a global appeal,” he says. “The construction of the pieces—from sportswear to style, with a more tailored fit—is the beginning of an evolution for SLVR.”

It seems that joining Adidas has brought out the boy in Schönberger, who grew up wearing the company’s sneakers. Fall 2011 is all about his fantasy of space travel to a planet that you most definitely want to be living on. “As a human being you can reach almost anything possible on earth, but space is a place where humans cannot survive without elaborate technical equipment. I love the look of the spacesuits, the capsule that landed on the moon, and of course the images we received from those travels,” he says. That translates to everything from classic crisp white shirts and suiting to metallic fishtail parkas and leather coats—all drawing from influences like the zippers and Velcro closures on Buzz Aldrin’s spacesuit.

The essence of Schönberger’s new direction for SLVR is to deliver the unexpected while staying true to the brand’s sportswear DNA. “It is important for me to either use a technical fabric and take it out of context and make a tailored jacket or a dress from it, or to use a classic ready-to-wear or tailoring fabric and make a sports piece from it,” he says. He’s even stealing functionality and techniques from sneakers for dress shoes and high heels, which you’re sure to appreciate when you’re running to the store.

Styling by Zara Zachrisson. Makeup by Ariel Yeh at Management Artists. Hair by David Von Cannon at Bryan Bantry. Models: Ruby Aldridge at Next and Madelene de la Motte at Marilyn. Photographer’s assistants: Nicholas Ong and Karin Gfeller. Production by Stacee Roberts at Management Artists.

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All clothing by Adidas SLVR. Shoes by Dr. Martens. Models own jewelry.

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