Launching a collection with Lamine Yamal in Barcelona was never going to mean hanging a few clothes in one room and calling it a day.
Instead, American Eagle spread the celebration across the city for 48 hours, moving between denim workshops, public art, music and a beachside rap battle. It was the brand’s first activation in Spain, but felt more like Barcelona shaping the campaign than an American brand simply turning up.
The collection is pretty much what you would expect from Lamine away from football. Relaxed, oversized and built around denim, with baggy jeans, cargos and workwear inspired pieces designed to be worn however you want. Footballers putting their names on clothes is nothing new, but this feels much closer to how Lamine actually dresses than merch with his face stuck on it.
At The Studio, an American Eagle x Lamine Yamal pop up in Dreta de l’Eixample, local artists Otti Hats, Ugo Boulard, Urees and Düa Düa hosted free denim customisation workshops. People could take the collection and properly make it their own, which was kind of the point. As Lamine said, seeing people put their own spin on the pieces made bringing the collection to his home city feel even more special.
Elsewhere, street artist TV Boy unveiled a huge 21 metre mural celebrating Lamine and the collaboration. You can scroll past a campaign post without thinking twice. It is slightly harder to ignore 21 metres of Lamine looking over Barcelona.
The takeover ended on Thursday at the American Eagle Beach Club on Moll de la Marina, with music, hundreds of guests and a live rap battle. Lamine then pulled up as a surprise judge, turning what could have been a standard fashion event into something that felt much closer to his actual world.
That was probably the best part of the takeover. The clothes were everywhere, but nobody had to stand around pretending to have a deep conversation about denim. People were customising pieces, listening to music, seeing art and watching a rap battle by the beach.
Lamine also makes a lot of sense as the person introducing American Eagle to a new audience. For his generation, football, fashion, music and internet culture are not separate interests. They all exist together, usually in the same feed.
The collection is available online at www.aeo.eu, but Barcelona gave it a proper life outside the campaign images. For 48 hours, the city was not simply where the launch happened. It became part of the whole thing.
