Why Korty EO as Adidas Superstar Makes Sense

Korty EO Via Instagram

When Adidas Nigeria announced Korty EO as the face of its new Superstar campaign in July, it was an interesting choice. Not because Korty is an obvious fashion celebrity, but because she has built her name through filmmaking, interviews and digital storytelling.

The campaign, titled “Making Superstars,” features Korty alongside Lagos skate collective and streetwear label WafflesnCream, with photography by Thompson Ekong. Korty has spent much of her career behind the camera. Through Flow with Korty and her documentary work, she has built a platform around conversations with Nigerian creatives, musicians, personalities and public figures. Her work has made her recognisable not just as a filmmaker, but as someone with a distinct perspective on contemporary Nigerian culture.

That makes her presence in the Superstar campaign worth looking at beyond the clothes.

The adidas Superstar has a long history of moving between different parts of culture. It began as a basketball shoe before becoming closely associated with music, streetwear and fashion. adidas describes the silhouette as one that has been continually reinterpreted by artists, designers, musicians and other cultural figures.

Korty EO Via Instagram

Korty fits into that history in her own way.

She did not build her audience by being a conventional fashion personality. She built it by making things. She films, asks questions, documents people and creates conversations that people want to watch. Her work has given her a place within Nigerian pop culture that extends beyond filmmaking. That is what makes the partnership interesting. There is also something very Nigerian about the way the campaign has been put together. Alongside Korty is WafflesnCream, a Lagos skate collective and streetwear label that has been part of the city’s skate culture for years. In July, adidas also announced its first partnership with the Nigerian brand through a collaborative Superstar ADV, with the design drawing directly from Lagos and the experience of its skate community.

So this is not simply a global sneaker being placed on a Nigerian celebrity. There is a more specific cultural context around the campaign: a filmmaker, a Lagos skate community and a global sportswear brand meeting in the same space.

That is where it becomes interesting to us at Selfie Week Nigeria.

A lot of the people influencing how Nigerian culture looks today do not fit neatly into one category. They move between film, fashion, photography, music, design and digital media. They build audiences through what they make and through the way they see things. Korty is part of that generation.

And there is a nice reversal in seeing her in this campaign. Someone who has spent years putting other people in front of her camera is now the person in front of someone else’s.

The Superstar is simply the setting.

What makes the partnership worth paying attention to is the person wearing it, the culture around her and what that says about the kinds of Nigerian creatives global brands are choosing to put in the frame.

Korty EO Via Instagram