ROSEMARY ABBOTT | Sport
TOUGH GIG
A task that is not meant to confuse the creative minds of the design world has somehow ended up doing so.
The latest edition of the All Blacks jersey, which will be worn by the team at this year’s Rugby World Cup in France, seems to have been complicated by the designer tasked with producing the most simple of designs.
To the casual observer, it looks as if a seven year old may have gotten hold of a silver marker and attempted to draw some silver ferns, treating the black jersey as some sort of primary school art project.
French designer “Fey The Wolf” explained the unexpected challenge he faced when creating a new edition of a plain black jersey.
“I saw the black jersey as more of a blank canvas, that I could put my creative mind to. When I saw the brief I thought they wanted me to add at least something to it. I mean, it’s literally just black,” said the Frenchman, a Parisian based street-style designer who was clearly confused by Adidas and NZ Rugby’s brief.
The challenge for Adidas was to have a jersey that is somewhat fresh and interesting, while still being a plain black jersey. They needed something that is clearly an All Blacks jersey, but with something extra that would make it worth it for fans to pay money for.
“This jersey has proven to be my most difficult puzzle to solve. How do you recreate something that’s actually already what it’s meant to be?
“So yes, I did give a silver marker to a small child and told them to, how you say, ‘go to town’”.
More to come.
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