From Rihanna to Tory Burch, New York Fashion Week has reinforced the notion that what you wear to work out doesn’t have to be hidden in a gym bag.
The twin powers of wellness and fashion, brought together by countless Instagram posts of stylish people eating avocado toast and taking terrifyingly expensive barre classes, have birthed the concept of athleisure. (Let’s be honest: Nobody wants to see you wearing the same Lululemon pants that you just sweated through; the phenomenon is about looking like you are fitness-focused all the time, but not necessarily fresh of a stationary bike.)
Now these designs are popping up everywhere, from your local yoga studio to mall favourites and even online thanks to both local entrepreneurs and mega-retailers such as Net-a-Porter and Namshi.
If anyone gives you side-eye for wearing your neon-print yoga pants to brunch, point them in the direction of Hannah Swales and Priya Bhatia, founders of Hot Box Kit and Hautletic, respectively.
QUOTES FROM PRIYA AND HANNAH TO COME
While much of athleisure comes from an increased focus on wellness and fitness, and the rise of super-trendy workouts such as Flywheel, Physique 57 and Crossfit, high-fashion designers have played a hand in the evolution for some time.
When the non-athlete Alexander Wang was invited to collaborate with H&M in 2014, he chose to make workout-wear-inspired pieces. “I live in gym clothes,” he told the New York Times. “When you go out on the street, it’s the uniform now.” Stella McCartney’s range for adidas is a bona-fide success story, celebrating its tenth anniversary last year; in January she launched StellaSport, a lower-priced range.
The latest move from fashion to workout wear came on Tuesday, with the launch of Tory Burch Sport, a new line encompassing gear for running, studio, tennis, swimming, golf and, pointedly, “Coming & Going”, which is described as “studio-to-street style”. Her designers are German, and formerly of brands such as adidas. She is to open her first stand-alone Tory Sport flagship store next month (no word yet on when local fitness fans can get their hands on them the pieces; her site doesn’t currently ship to the UAE).
“It’s what girls wear in college now,” Burch told the New Yorker of her range. “Nobody gets dressed anymore.”
Over at Puma on the opening day of Fashion Week was Rihanna and her FentyxPuma range; though not sportwear in any practical sense, the hot-ticket show was an indication that fashion, fame and fitness brands are officially BFFs.
These are “not ‘gym clothes,’ per se,” Rihanna told the NYT. “They’re not performance wear. But everything was inspired by some sporty, street-sport, casual vibe. I tried to intertwine all of those things with a little bit of fashion. I tried to push the envelope a little bit in terms of what Puma has done in the past and also what they’re comfortable with doing.”
