(Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
DeKalb, IL — Actress Yara Shahidi is celebrating her Black and Iranian roots with her new five-piece Adidas collection.
The new collection includes a pair of classic Superstar sneakers, two jackets and coordinating track pants. Shahidi said the collaboration with Adidas is two years in the making.
“A lot of how it started was with mood boards and just thinking about what images and what people impacted me growing up, and I think quite honestly I have pictures of grandparents from both sides of my family and silhouettes,” Shahidi said on Instagram. “It just felt right because I thought there were quite literal ways I could help rep my Iranian heritage and Black heritage.”
Shahidi said the partnership feels surreal since she grew up wearing Adidas and their Superstar Shell toe shoe was a staple of her closet.
The “grown-ish” star looked at old magazines and vintage Adidas tracksuit designs as inspiration for her collection. One tracksuit is made of satin with Iranian-inspired patterns. Another is a mustard color with the printed Sun logo.
In an Instagram video with Harper's Bazaar, Shahidi shared that there may be a second drop of the collection in the future.
“It was really important to me that the line is unisex not only because that’s what most of my clothes look like but just because to be reflective and knowing that I want this as a tool of expression and I didn’t want to feel limiting,” she said on Instagram.