Fashion's Boy Friday

Just when he had angered high street retailer H&M and the British public with his comments about British women being too large for his designs, it has been revealed that Jack-of-all-trades Karl Lagerfeld has shot an add campaign for sports retailer Adidas.

The campaign was shot in mid-November at the designer's studio in Paris, and marks a departure for both Lagerfeld and Adidas Originals. The retailer is planning on expanding its presence with 15 more Originals stores, adding to its current chain of 24 flagship stores. For Lagerfeld, the collaboration is quite rare in that he has almost never shot campaigns for labels that are not his own.

The new Originals spring/summer 2005 ads, all of which were shot in black and white, will appear in February in major lifestyle and fashion magazines.

Michael Michalsky, global creative director of Adidas, told reporters that Lagerfeld was perfect for Adidas Originals. As the "high priest of luxury and style" his approach was a perfect match for the Adidas brand, which was "the ultimate aspirational street fashion label." Michalsky also hired Stephen Gan, founder and cerative director of Visionaire and a great friend of Lagerfeld's, as art director.

According to Gan, it was a great challenge of lending a fashion edge to what he said was "one of the most recognized brands in the world was probably the biggest challenge." Gan revealed that Lagerfeld jumped at the opportunity of shooting the campaign because he was fully aware of Adidas Originals as a high-end street fashion label.

The Lagerfeld ads "Celebrate Originality", as the Adidas has coined the campaign. According to Michalsky, the company wanted to project positive images as opposed to something too cutting edge, which he admitted was "so over". The ads feature a group of healthy looking, sexy models posing together. The line consists of classic retro items and new takes on signature looks from the Adidas standard.