Not a surprise, but the spring/summer 2009 adidas women’s competition line keeps low-key, staying with that bumblebee shade that we’ve been trying to expunge from the tennis palette for two years (Yonex is keeping adidas company during this sit-in).
The bright yellow is broken up by black lines around the back of both the tank and the cap sleeve top, while the standard three-stripe detail makes an appearance on the sleeve of the latter.
There’s a diamond in the rough, though: continuing with the Asian-inspired Australian Open top, adidas has produced this red mock wrap cap sleeve tee to kick of its players’ 2009 campaign. (With Anna Chakvetadze defecting to Fila, Dinara Safina and Patty Schnyder will be the highest-ranked women playing in these pieces.)
Buy: adidas Competition Tank and Cap Sleeve Top, neon yellow/black, starting at $45; Competition Skort, white, $45; all items available at shopadidas.com in January 2009.
sports
Fashion Focus: Adidas by Stella McCartney, f/w ‘08
The fall/winter ‘08 adidas by Stella McCartney line dropped right before the U.S. Open this year, and we got a chance to see the merch up close while at the company’s performance store in SoHo (where we also got fitted for some custom Barricades).
McCartney drew inspiration from Victorian-era embellishments for the prints and cuts of the tennis pieces, all made in the Brit’s usual muted pallete. This season’s colors: White, Rubia Grey (black), Dark Concrete (grey), and Pale Salmon (pink).
Note the floral cutout adhered to the bubble skirt of the Tennis Print Dress (with its racerback top).
Here is the season’s skirt with the corset-like Tennis Mesh Tank.
And Stella’s fall warmup jacket features a drawcord around the gathered neckline, making room for the wide turtleneck tee. There’s also a separates version of that Tennis Dress.
Fit to print: McCartney muse Maria Kirilenko won the Hansol Korea Open last week.
Buy: Cover-up Blouson, $170; Tennis Print Dress, $120; Cover Up Tennis Tee, $100; Tennis Mesh Tank, $90; Tennis Woven Shorts, $80.
Browse: See McCartney’s other designs — for yoga, golf, running, dance, and winter sports — at the adidas e-shop.
(images via adidas.com)
Two Hotels: One reaches up, one reaches out
A tale of two cities: On one end, Shanghai, who’s ready to step out of Beijing’s architectural shadow with some record-breaking structures of its own. The showcase: the completion, after 14 (!) years, of the Shanghai World Financial Center — standing at 1,600 feet as the tallest building in China and the third tallest in the world. The Park Hyatt Shanghai has taken up shop in the 79th through 93rd floors of the 101-story skyscraper, just in time to welcome fans eager for another Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal bout at the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup.
And down South, on Brazil’s Emerald Coast, the Ponta Dos Ganchos Resort is debuting five luxury seafront bungalows via an auction to benefit Instituto Guga Kuerten. The four new Emerald Villa Bungalows (2,455 sq. ft.) and one Special Emerald Villa Bungalow (3,210 sq. ft.), opening in the first week of December, feature dry saunas and jacuzzis with sea views, personal spa areas with massage tatamis, wine cellars, and private decks and plunge pools. The Special Emerald Villa Bungalow also includes an in-villa fitness center.
Bid: The silent auction for the PDG villas ends October 31, 2008. For more information, click here. One interesting note: “Cancellations are not accepted and are subject to total loss of payment as proceeds will be donated directly to Instituto Guga Kuerten.”
Book: See room rates (plus, on the landing page, a view from the hotel out to Shanghai) at the Park Hyatt website.
(via UD; screengrabs from each property’s website)
Polo Ralph Lauren: shopping 3.0
As if you don’t already have enough widgets on your iPhones (I’ve never seen so many phones shaken violently in my life!), Polo Ralph Lauren adds to the mix by introducing the first luxury American mobile commerce website.
Customers can download software to their camera phones, which in turn will scan codes displayed in print ads, mailings, and instore displays. The codes will direct the users to a phone-friendly version of the PRL site, where they can watch video, read web articles, and shop for their cable knit sweaters and Big Pony polos from anywhere they can get reception (at Arthur Ashe Stadium, waiting for the ATP trainer to finish taping up a player’s leg?).
The launch is going to coincide with the apparel maker’s sponsorship of the US Open, which begins at the end of this month.
As with most things mobile, the US is way behind trendy Asia and even old-fashioned Europe when it comes to customers adopting some of the latest and greatest mobile technology. In Japan, it is quite common for people to buy tickets and vending machine products using their mobile phones. But hey, later is better than never.
(RL via Red Herring)
Holy FCUK!
French Connection, from whose teat TSF sucked a LOT of clothes, makes an appearance at these Wimbledon championships on British player Elena Baltacha. I never would have thought that their in-your-face branding campaign (”FCUK”, which stands for French Connection United Kingdom) could have a place in the hallowed grounds of this uber-traditional event.
But I guess an almost-obscenity is on par with mensy-looking get-up Dominika Cibulkova wore for her first round match against Jie Zheng. (Zheng won 6-4, 6-3.) Cibulkova subs for Tati Golovin as the 2008 Lacoste bunny. Sadly, this flashy underwear is now year-old news.
Browse: You can check out the latest offerings from the FCUK online store here.
(player photos by Getty Images; FCUK banner by fcuk.com)