The adidas Pride 2024 collection was created with the ethos that "love unites" in tandem with Brazilian artist Pabllo Vittar. Unveiled early in May, the collection has a mix of performance and lifestyle pieces to inspire body confidence and "greater proactive allyship" with the LGBTQ+ community.
"Pride is very important to me, so I am deeply honored to create a collection with Adidas to celebrate our community," Vittar said in the press release. “My aim for the collection was to expand the lens we're seen through – a color palette that embodies and celebrates the wide spectrum of identities across our community and the culture it influences.”
The popular sports brand even featured a few LGBTQIA+ athletes and allies in the campaign, including swimmer Tom Daley, Stonewall FC London player Jo Kokkinopliti, Athlete Ally founder Hudson Taylor, and last but not least, WNBA player Layshia Clarendon.
To celebrate the launch of the collection, Teen Vogue caught up with campaign star Clarendon to talk about queer fashion and why it's important to own your personal style.
Teen Vogue: What does being a part of this campaign with adidas mean to you?
Layshia Clarendon: It means taking a step back and looking at how far being my genuine, authentic self has taken me. That's been the reflection for me through this campaign. If there are opportunities I've missed because I've been my authentic self, fine — there's been way more beautiful things that I've gained from just being the whole version of myself. I want to work with companies and brands and people who want folks who show up fully as themselves. That's what I love about adidas and this campaign. They never asked me not to be anything but the whole version of who I am and have supported me 1000% behind the scenes and outwardly every step of the way in my journey.
TV: What role do you think style plays in sports?
LC: Culture and sports go hand in hand. It's about damn time that the W is getting spotlighted because Black women, we shape so much of our culture — [we] just aren't often given the credit that we deserve. It is another beautiful example of how the WNBA is [only just] getting the flowers they deserve. I love seeing the players wholeheartedly embrace this moment [with] arms wide-open [and] camera-ready poses of all kinds of style.
Sports gives us a spotlight, and it gives us a chance to influence culture. The beautiful part about the W is you get such a range of genders in our league that it's different from a lot of other sports leagues, especially male leagues. You get the most gender [diverse] experience of the high-fashion style. You get people who are into streetwear, you get people who are masculine, me with my mustache just walking in there with a skirt. You just get such a range of people in our league that I think haven't actually gotten the spotlight.
TV: What does fashion mean to you personally?
LC: Fashion means authenticity. For me, it has to feel good on your body. Fashion helps express what you feel inside. I want to feel good. I want to feel myself. More than putting on this one piece that someone picked out, it's more of, "Does that piece fit you?" and "Does it make you feel good?" — whether it's a $6 thrifted shirt or a $300 Gucci adidas shirt. I actually thrifted an adidas dress when I was in Cleveland for the Final Four that I can't wait to wear one day.
TV: Do you have any favorite pieces from the new Pride collection?
LC: I love the workout tights because I love the pattern: the three-quarter, iridescent tights. I had my nails that color. The colors and the patterns are just so cool, and they represent how the LGBTQ+ community is always evolving. I love the basketball line and all the high neck colors, the mock necks [especially.] I love simple yet effective outfits like what I was wearing in the pictures, the all-black. That is my style to the T.
TV: Why do you think it's important to highlight fashion for the queer community, especially in sports?
LC: We sit at the intersection of all those things. We can't separate queerness and fashion and our gender expression and how much we add to the story of fashion. Being authentic [is key.] What queer people do, what trans people do, [is] we have the audacity to show up in a world where people don't always do that, in a world that isn't always safe for us. We still show up. And we are going to wear the skirt, wear the dress, wear the outfit that gives us the full freedom we deserve. I think that's the power of it. When you add sports into that layer, it's just the most beautiful meshing of all the communities, coming together to make magic. I feel the bursting of lights and amazingness. We have it all.
TV: What would be your advice to young people trying to figure out their style while also navigating their sexuality and gender identity?
LC: I would say always find people that you're safe with — whether that's a friend, family, a sibling — to try on those outfits with. For me, when I started wearing dresses and skirts again, I would wear them with my wife. I would wear them in the house with her and then eventually out to dinner. I knew I was safe with her [first] when I wore them in public just [on] my own. It feels different, as a young person trying on different parts of themselves, to do it with someone who will affirm you and make you feel safe.
This young generation is taking back the thrifting, repurposing, reusing, trying to save the earth and the world while also doing high fashion. It's just meshing it all together to find what feels good on your body and what feels good to you because that's going to be the most beautiful expression of who you are, being yourself and then letting that come out through your clothes as art. [As] artists, we get to figure out and pick who we want to be for the day every single day. How cool is that? We've gotten to the place where we're willing to be vulnerable enough to do that. Don't forget that's actually a gift that some people don't ever touch in their lives or let themselves get to the point where they will be that daring to try on different parts of themselves.
