Cecilie Bahnsen Debuts First Women’s Model of the ASICS GEL-QUANTUM 360 VIII
Transforming yet another technical shoe into a floral-adorned Mary Jane.
Cecilie Bahnsen has officially inked her third collaboration with ASICS. Last year, the Danish designer partnered with the brand to deliver her take on the ASICS GT-2160, transforming the sneaker into a sheer Mary Jane.
She returned just a few months later with another iteration of the ASICS GT-2160, this time featuring dual straps adorned with rubberized flowers.
For her third collaboration with the Japanese footwear brand, Bahnsen has transformed the ASICS GEL-QUANTUM 360 VIII into a first-of-its-kind women’s shoe. Fittingly, the sneaker is outfitted with three straps – two situated Mary Jane-style and another wrapping around the heel. Each strap features a small metal flower at the velcro point. Like her previous ASICS models, the GEL-QUANTUM 360 VIII arrives in two colorways. There’s a gray model with dark blue straps and a semi-transparent yellow sole, along with a whitish gray with a black sole and mint green straps.
Cecilie Bahnsen shared with Hypebeast during the ASICS showroom at Paris Fashion Week how the collaboration came about.
Hypebeast: How did the partnership with ASICS come about and when did it begin?
Cecile Bahnsen: I’ve always been drawn to the juxtaposition between femininity and elements that are more technical and sportive. I find inspiration in how I see my clothes being worn in real life, by the girls in our atelier and our community around the globe, often pairing a billowing dress with functional trainers. So, it felt like a natural decision to collaborate with ASICS, finding common ground between our two distinct universes.
Walk us through the creative process.
Just as when we design our clothing collections, the process starts in our Copenhagen Atelier, experimenting and iterating. We always seek to find unique ways to use our signature techniques of layering and embellishment and incorporate them in the trainers. The use of the 5D print overlays and two-tone mesh on this trainer create depth and texture, which are important to our visual language and design DNA.
What was the main inspiration behind these collaborations?
Technicality and functionality are essential to everything we create. Even if a dress is crafted from seemingly endless meters of fabric, when you put it on, it has to feel easy. I have always said that my clothes are meant to be worn and not to be precious about. You have to want to wear it and live in it. For this collaboration, we are simply applying these principles to a trainer. Rather than exclusively using couturier techniques, we get to tap into ASICS’ technical expertise which is always exciting and we get to learn a lot from that. This collaboration continues to exemplify how function and fashion can coexist beautifully.
Do you have a favorite ASICS model?
It’s hard to say! This is our third collaboration together and with each project we continue to push the boundaries of what we can achieve together. We always seek to find unique ways to use our signature techniques of layering and embellishment and incorporate them in the trainers. This latest collaboration continues to exemplify how function and fashion can coexist beautifully.
Priced at $257 USD (€240 eur) Cecile Bahnsen x ASICS GEL-QUANTUM 360 VIII’s launch is timed to the 2024 Paris Olympics. A raffle to purchase the shoe is set for August 8 and those interested can sign up to be notified when it opens.
