I think that was largely Russell trying to define a fashion image. It failed. The chicken-wire unis of 2012 were the worst, IMPO. However, by 2014 that had been ironed out and Russell was providing the gold/white/gold classic unis that were sharp. The blue version of the year was nice, too., IIRC. So, it was a mixed bag to me - some bad, some good, most in the middle somewhere. The worst part was we looked different every year.
All that said, there are not many of the Adidas unis that I've really liked. They just almost all have had some kind of funkiness about them.