It has always been a perfect match made on the dance floor. The cultural boundary between dance and fashion is a permeable one: From Lanvin’s promotional video with French choreographer Benjamin Millepied earlier this year, to the way a movement director choreographed models in Maison Margiela’s Artisanal runway in January, among many other examples. And the combination is becoming even more important as runway shows continue to evolve from static displays for buyers into more theatrical events.
On Monday night in Berlin, Y-3 — Adidas‘ long-running high fashion collaboration with designer Yohji Yamamoto — and choreographer Kianí del Valle, who has worked with the likes of Billie Eilish, Bad Bunny and other experimental artists, will take a turn at melding fashion and dance.
“If fashion wields such considerable influence over culture, why not explore innovative ways to present it,” the Puerto Rican, Berlin-based choreographer told WWD. “For some time now, I have been aspiring to explore the conceptual framework of a fashion show, reimagining it as an operatic performance or a dance theatre piece.”
The show del Valle has created, named El Túnel and featuring 10 performers from her own company, KDV, takes place at Berlin’s Theater des Westens on Monday. Performers will showcase Y-3 garments in a “series of intricately intertwined cinematic tableaux.”
The performance also fits with something of a fresh direction that Adidas chief executive officer Bjorn Gulden is enthusiastic about: more merging of fashion and sport. In March, Adidas put the Real Madrid football team in Y-3 designed travel kits and Y-3 has also collaborated with the Japanese Football Association. In October, Y-3 teased new looks for the Spanish national women’s football team. The Y-3 garments are often made with technical fabrics and the brand has said it wants to “present a vision of the [Adidas] three stripes in motion.”
“When it comes to the garments, I have to say it’s been incredibly fun to explore the possibilities of each Y-3 piece,” del Valle said, “integrating the capacities for movement in each piece into my dramaturgy. They’re perfectly suited for this piece.”
Although the performance is one-night-only, del Valle, who also previously choreographed a fashion film for London’s Selfridges department store and orchestrated performances at Coachella, believes there will be much more of this kind of collaboration to come in the future, she said.
