The forthcoming Cecilie Bahnsen x ASICS collaboration immediately stood out to me as feminine and playful when it debuted on the label's Fall 2024 Paris Fashion Week runway, but not as sneakers that would immediately translate for everyday wear. These are, after all, chunky sneakers in shades of black, cherry red, and metallic bronze, adorned with an array of dainty 3D flowers.
This could not be further from how Bahnsen sees them. The designer has always viewed sneakers, even the embellished ones, as an integral part of a woman’s wardrobe and a perfect juxtaposition to the layers of floaty chiffon and lace throughout her pieces. As she told me over Zoom, "These are the most unisex sneakers we have done with Asics, but they’re my favorite."
Bahnsen's latest Asics sneakers, her second collaboration with the footwear brand, premiered in a collection titled “The Bite"—as in, the apple—and explored themes of love, strength, and desire. It also brought out a “darker side of romance and different ways of expressing femininity in a more mature woman," she says. The brand might have grown up, but their shoes are still girlhood-coded.
Literally—Bahnsen says that each pair is imagined for a different type of girl. The black sneakers are fashioned for your inner romantic, she says, because they "have the highest gloss, and the patent flowers are really special." The brown pair taps into a mature shopper with their "subtle, earthy tone." As for the show-stopping cherry red hue? It's for the quintessential Danish dresser. It's also her favorite, despite not appearing on the runway. "There's a true playfulness to [that pair] that has a really Copenhagen way of styling, which is really exciting," she says.
When I asked how the Danish brand linked with Asics, Bahnsen told me it was a “perfect match" from the beginning. She says the bond was formed because both labels specialize in best-in-class craftsmanship in their respective fields. The sportswear brand also understands the Danish approach to dressing, which Bahnsen calls “everyday couture," or the tactic of incorporating high-level design into your everyday rotation.
“You can just throw on a dress and your sneakers and jump on your bike or whatever,” she says, smiling, of how she sees the sneakers being worn off the runway.
It’s an energy that has some crossover with the New York approach to getting dressed—the idea that pieces must be fashion-forward and real-life-proof. Bahnsen leaned into that shared mindset this season at New York Fashion Week, opening the brand's first-ever stateside pop-up in downtown Manhattan in celebration of the new Asics sneakers.
Judging by the buzz inside the store's lower level on the evening of September 6, the transcontinental approach is winning over the fashion set stateside. We won't have to travel to Copenhagen Fashion Week to shop for over-the-top sneakers, and dresses to wear them with, any longer.
The Cecilie Bahnsen x ASICS Gel-Terrain sneakers arrive on both Asics and Cecilie Bahnsen's websites on October 16.
