Active Wear: Is gym wear suitable for streetwear?
LIKE sportswear on steroids, the athleisure trend has proven a fashion force to be reckoned with. But is gym wear suitable streetwear?
LIKE sportswear on steroids, the athleisure trend has proven a fashion force to be reckoned with. But is gym wear suitable streetwear?
I want to tell you a secret. I see fit people. Walking around like regular people. At least I’m assuming that’s what they are – why else would they be wearing workout gear to the cinema? To the pub? In line for the latest Picasso exhibition?
“Um, because they’re just chilling in their active wear,” my yoga studio friend scolds me.
“That’s a thing now.”
In case, like me, you’re a late adopter to trends that involve the word “active”, apparently you no longer have to be fit to wear Lycra. You don’t even have to work out.
You can just put it on and go about your day. So as this trend grows, I want to know – is there anywhere you can’t wear active wear? Would it be socially acceptable to don it for, say, a dinner party? A baby shower?
So I kitted up and hit the town – wearing nothing but active wear for a full week.
BUT FIRST, A LITTLE R&D
TO give this challenge a proper nudge, I feel I need to go in armed with some knowledge. Mostly so when people say, “Did you really think it was OK to wear yoga pants to my wedding?” I can hit them back with, “I think you’ll find Kate Middleton was given royal approval to wear Lululemon to Princess Charlotte’s christening.”
Or however it was this trend got started. To find out, I went straight to the most fashionable person I know – Edwina McCann, editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia.
“Designers have been jumping on this bandwagon since Stella McCartney did her first collection for Adidas back in 2004,” she tells me. “‘Athleisure’ – which is the term the fashion industry has coined for it – has now replaced denim as the go-to for everyday casual looks for women.
Consumers are driving its interest and sales, but the performance fabrications have improved and become more exciting for designers to work with and I think this is why high fashion is interested in the category.”
If McCann isn’t turning her nose up at it this must really be a bona fide thing. So what to wear on my quest?
“Unless you’re really tall, avoid three-quarter tights at all costs – go short or go long,” McCann advises.
I mention this to Libby Babet, founder of Sydney gym Agoga, and say it isn’t a lot to work with.
“I’m also a sucker for a pair of short-shorts,” she says.
I tell her I take it back. I then gather up the most elegant gym-themed civvies I can – some Skins, New Balance, Lululemon, a little up-to-the-minute Boohoo Fit gear, some fashion-forward tights from Tone Fitness Apparel and even some silky threads from the newly minted athleisure ranges of Country Road and Witchery.
It still just looks like a pile of stretchy pants to me.
“Don’t worry, I’ve worn active wear to corporate offices, board meetings, dates, shopping, brunch, the gym, on TV appearances and on nights out,” Babet says.
“There aren’t many places I wouldn’t wear it.”
I haven’t met her in person but I have a sneaking suspicion Babet could win a game of hide and seek by standing behind a pole.
Nevertheless I heed her advice, don my geometric-print leggings and head into the fray.
NEXT, SOME FIELD WORK
MY first meeting for the week is with one of my editors. I walk through the big shiny doors into the publishing house foyer and… nothing. No one bats an eyelash-extension framed eyelid.
My editor didn’t even mention the fact I’d turned up to a business meeting in what’s essentially one level up from body paint.
The same happens the next day when I meet my friend for lunch. And the day after that when I perform at a comedy club. Nada.
On day four I have a date – but far from being put off, he actually compliments my choice of tights. The floral pattern reminds him of a recent holiday to Hawaii. Holy Jane Austen, Batman. Has the world lost all sense of sophistication?
Perhaps I’ve played it too safe. In my search for something more risqué, I come across Pins To Kill, a new leggings label out of Melbourne.
Their point of difference: You can have any picture you like printed on a pair of leggings. Founder Linda Vydra tells me she’s had a slew of creative customers.
“My favourite was a fellow who ordered a pair for his partner for Valentine’s Day with a sweet message on the waistband and a travel photo on the outside,” she says.
“But we’ve also printed people’s artworks, photography – we even made a pair with pictures of a sloth for a 21st present.”
That this company is already thriving is testament to the fact there are still gaps in the market. People aren’t happy to just slap on a pair of trackie daks for a jog anymore.
“At the start of the craze, active wear was for workouts and athleisure was for streetwear,” Babet says.
“But I honestly think the lines have blurred. Now it’s a little bit of both, mushed together to make one big sporty wardrobe of awesomeness.”
And here’s the thing: I’m starting to agree with her. Because sweet baby Moses in the rushes, this stuff is comfortable. More comfortable than being naked even.
This whole week I’ve felt taut, buoyant and ready to break into a sprint at any moment.
I’m not ready to give up centuries of socially entrenched dress codes just yet though. I have one final test (see opposite).
MY NIGHT AT THE OPERA
ON the last day of my experiment, I have a rendezvous with La Bohème.
I’m confident this outing will incite the reaction I’ve been hoping for.
Surely donning sneakers to the Sydney Opera House will cause ladies to faint and men’s monocles to droop?
I don’t want to be completely disrespectful so I go for my most black-tie activewear – a pair of marble-print leggings with monochrome sneakers and a black athleisure-style shirt.
When I meet my friend, Lucy, she doesn’t seem too perturbed – at first.
“Oh, did you ride your bike over?” she asks.
“Nope,” I reply.
“So, this is for… what exactly? I mean I know we’re not dating or anything but you could put in a little more effort.”
I explain my experiment and she’s understandably mortified. I want to hug her.
Milling around before the performance, my outfit doesn’t garner much attention. As we file in past the ushers to our seats, I feel a sense of foreboding.
Then it happens.
“Excuse me, ma’am… Ahh, if you’d like to get changed the bathrooms are just behind you.”
Yes!
This woman assumes I’ve been working out and have simply forgotten to change into my glad rags.
She’s horrified by my appearance. It’s everything I’ve been hoping for.
And with that, the line is drawn.
Sure, it took an Italian operatic masterpiece to do it. But drawn it was. And for my money it’s more beautiful than any Picasso I’ve ever clapped eyes on.
Originally published as Active Wear: Is gym wear suitable for streetwear?
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