Queen of Sports

Nike Re-Invents The Iconic Track Jacket

July 4th, 2010 | Posted by Leah Hollar in Fashion,Olympics,Uncategorized

Nike teamed up with six emerging fashion designers to re-invent the iconic N98 track jacket. The designers include Tim Soar, Katie Eary, Felder Felder Julian J. Smith and Hannah Marshall. Each designer was paired with a British athlete to use as their muse for re-designing the jacket.

Hannah Marshall, an edgy British designer who creates edgy, body-conscious silhouettes without the use of color, designed a jacket inspired by long-distance runner Charlotte Purdue.

Designer Katie Early was paired with sprinter Martyn Rooney. She explained her inspiration, saying “I was looking at the whole idea of an athlete, of perfection, and I thought about muscle. Rooney’s physique has no fat, which led me to the snake – which is essentially just a muscle. So I took the N98 jacket and kept all of the core elements, like the zip, the structure etc, so keeping the skeletal structure and took away the flesh, adding my snake print upon the final piece with plastic scales in certain places across the garment.”

London-based designer Julian J. Smith has his own fashion line, but is also a costume designer. Most notably, he’s designed outfits for the outlandish rocker Beth Ditto. He designed a bright and bold patterned jacket for Jodie Williams, a 16-year old British sprinter who just broke a 31-year old UK junior record in the 100m.

Felder Felder, the identical twin designing duo, is known for their rock-n-roll feminine look. They designed a jacket inspired by sprinter Ashlee Nelson with puffed sleeves that would please Felder Felder fans like Rihanna, as well.

Photos: UK Vogue