AVAVAV SS25 Runs a Tongue-in-Cheek Track Race

Beate Karlsson’s AVAVAV is fueled by a vexed sense of humor. In seasons past, the punch-lined fashion label’s runways have included models dramatically collapsing mid-walk, clothing completely falling apart, and the front-row hurling rubbish at its designs in real-time. The internet is notoriously divided on the brand’s gimmicks: some people adore Karlsson’s swings for viral gold in the age of TikTok, while others question whether the tongue-in-cheek imprint’s ploys for attention are overshadowing the real reason a brand should stage a show in the first place: fashion. In either case, fully charged iPhones are ready for anything at AVAVAV’s shows.

For Spring 2025, the label seemed to find a middle ground: on a sporty catwalk in Milan’s historical Forza e Corragio sports arena, the brand poked fun at the world’s Olympics obsession by challenging its models to break the 100-meter world record (spoiler alert: most of them gave up, others took phone calls and one even vomited) while debuting a very real and well-designed collaboration with adidas Originals.

Karlsson said it was a long-time dream of hers to partner with the sportswear giant. “Especially since AVAVAV is still such a baby compared to adidas, which comes with so much legacy and history,” she said. “It’s pretty wild that we can paint on a garment, and everyone immediately recognizes it as adidas. That’s something you can only achieve as a global player like them. From the beginning of our partnership, I was encouraged to ‘make fun’ of adidas. There’s so much irony in how seriously we take both sports and fashion, and exploring that while maintaining a serious attitude has been incredibly fun.”

The AVAVAVificiation of adidas Originals was full of experiments, illusions and breakthroughs. Trench jackets were cut short; puffer jackets were exceptionally large, and hooded form-fitting tops were avant-garde enough for a Berlin club. Some models pulled tricks on the eye, “wearing” adidas track jackets that were actually just painted directly on their bodies. Elsewhere, the signature Superstar sneaker was transformed with a shell toe hosting AVAVAV’s four fingers motif, while caps and hats were similarly decorated with dangling finger-shaped cut-outs, or Karlsson’s version of adidas’ Three Stripes.

While AVAVAV’s fashion brigade may not have come close to smashing any track-and-field records, the brand certainly made big strides of its own by balancing its fun-filled identity with fashion innovation.

See AVAVAV’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection in the gallery above, and stay tuned to Hypebeast for more Milan Fashion Week coverage.