KAPPA KONTROLL: On The Grid

“ABSOLUTE BODY KONTROLL” was the slogan deployed during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, when the Italian brand Kappa was selected to design and dress the US team. It was a pivotal year for the athletes, and for the brand. Outfitted in silver Kappa apparel, enhanced with space technology, American sprinter Carl Lewis matched the record set by Jessie Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics – propelled by the Italian sportswear label unflinchingly into the future.

Newly launched under that same banner, the brand’s FW2018 collection continues Kappa Kontroll’s technical evolution with inside-out ski suiting and a color palette drawn from thermal imaging – twisting the science of performance with 1980s classics, for a streetwear aesthetic at home in the digital age.

Shot by Dutch photographer Ari Versluis – who is one half of the sociological photo project Exactitudes, which catalogues subcultural uniforms on grids of 12 uniform images – Kappa Kontroll’s looks recognize the power of what we wear in how we define and express ourselves, and our culture.

Explore the new ABSOLUTE BODY KONTROLL in the grid below.