COMING OF AGE

ROLE: ART DIRECTOR

For this brief we were given a new adidas called ‘80s Summer. This pack embraced the spirit of the ‘80s but with a twist that connects with Gen Z and Alpha. The all-over prints and stripped styles gave a nod to the past while capturing the essence of today’s fashion landscape. The challenge was to create a campaign that had a feel of the ‘80s but felt current.

the Concept

To find a crossroad between ‘80s and Gen Z, we tapped into a feeling that many can connect to, Coming of Age. The ‘80s was an iconic era for ‘Coming of Age Stories in film and TV which reigned supreme during that decade. These common tropes every generation can connect with, especially considering Gen Z is currently experiencing their own COA era.

For this shoot we reminisced about those tween, twenties and tricky teen years in-between by recreating those characters. We took inspiration from the teenage angst and emotion portrayed in those ‘80s films and expressed them from the vantage point of Gen-Z.

ART DIRECTION

For the capture style of this shoot, we used cinematic, directional lighting and warm grade to create modern visuals with a nostalgic feel. We shot as much as we could with film, using handprinted images as a grade reference for the digital shots.

We used emotion and realistic interactions to hint at coming of age storyline tropes, avoiding overly posing the models so the campaign didn’t look too gimmicky or pastiche. Our aim was to capture the aimlessness, angsty, tenderness of what it feels like to be in a phase of self -discovery.

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