Mr. Magara x adidas Country OG

• MODEL: ADIDAS COUNTRY OG
• SERIES: ADIDAS CONSORTIUM
• PACK: ADIDAS COLLECTOR'S PROJECT
• DESIGNED BY: Mr. Magara
• MADE IN: INDONESIA
• ART.NO: F33067
• FACTORY: SY2 035002

One of Tokyo’s finest adidas addicts and fashion connoisseurs, Naotake Magara (aka Mr. Magara), came together with the Consortium team in Herzo to re-establish the Country OG with a carefully chosen, colorful expression for the Collector’s Project.

And for many of us Mr. Magara came entirely out of the woodwork, having much less of a worldwide presence then say Robert Brooks or Germany’s Sneakerqueen, Julia Schoierer. However that doesn’t lessen the luxurious angle at which he envisions shoes, having his own local fame back home in Tokyo, Japan, where he’s known not only for his love of adidas Originals but also for the clothing he designs and sells at his own shop, A1 Clothing Store.

Decked out with an old-timely-style white and beige banner sign, the shop loosely advertises its distribution of “King of the Road overalls, shirts, and pants” as well as “men’s furnishings, hats, and shoes”, and while this seems to be a piece of found object decor, it certainly tells a ‘truthy’ tale of what’s in-store for his visitors. In fact, the innards of the shop completely match in their antique aesthetic, displaying the likes of suspiciously smiling dolls decked out in miniature Lee jeans overall outfits, delicate spider-illustrated stained glass windows, and other such eccentric oddities. What can we say? His store totally embodies his unique and immediately interesting style.

But he’s a classic character too, easily caught in something simple and clean like a true green on white pair of Stan Smith’s. Reminiscing over his historical introduction to adidas, Magara explains how back in the day Japan was obsessed with the fashion choices and impressions of American ’80s culture, and his first brush with the brand with the three stripes was also his shoe of choice for this Collector’s Project: the Country silhouette. He even notes the popularity it gained once Eddie Murphy wore it in Beverly Hills Cop, and since then it has steadily become one of his “foundation” trainers.

Headed for Herzogenaurach, Magara explains that his original concentration was the shape of the shoe itself, using an actual OG pair in white and green (and grubby as hell too, we might add) for reference. Once the silhouette was sealed (so to speak), Magara moved onto the more flexible part of the shoe: its colorway. And flex it he did, applying some very intense hue inspiration he took from a pair of blue, yellow, and red Formula 1 prototypes that he spotted while being given a tour of the adidas archive also located in Herzo.

For such a calm and classy model, Magara certainly found his own way to spice it up a bit and put some ‘speed’ into it, and we’d like to think this reflects his true character as a collector as well: one who can always surprise you when you least expect it.

written by Dylan Cromwell

photography by errol