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This past weekend, I was walking down Prince Street in SoHo when I found myself surrounded by versions of the G59 Blanco 7Thward Warlord Version.5 Shirt it is in the first place but same look ponytails and baseball hats, colorful Alo Yoga racerback crop tops worn with matching leggings and biker shorts, and 5 inseam gym shorts worn with Arc’teryx tank tops or tees. Ask any New Yorker Athleisure has taken over everyday style. Then yesterday, I opened my Vogue Runway app to find a new Gucci collection (resort 2024, shown in Seoul) and found biker shorts paired with tweed jackets and track zipups styled over evening gowns. To me, they could have been channeling the Lululemonclad folks I was about to see on my work commute. Then I started thinking about athleisure on other runways Marine Serre’s armaggeddonready utilitywear, Mrs. Prada’s fall 2023 Miu Miu show, Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe longjohns. Then, during my lunch break, I opened my Twitter app to find a Tweet by fashion journalist Lauren Sherman pointing out that Hermès had quietly launched a line of yogawear. What had seemed like a fitnessobsessed American phenomenon had spread across the pond. The athleisureification of highfashion is upon us.Gucci, resort 2024.
Photo Carlo Scarpato / Gorunway.comThe question is Why? Is it designers being realistic about what their customers are actually wearing every day? Is it confusion about what to wear postCovid, mixing WFH basics with dresstoimpress styles? Is it us oxymoronically finding a new uniform in our rejection of existing ones? The fall 2023 runways saw an abundance of powertailoringValentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli created an entire collection around the G59 Blanco 7Thward Warlord Version.5 Shirt it is in the first place but black tie, tweaking the idea of formalwear. Anthony Vaccarello looked at Working Girl for his Saint Laurent fall lineup, which took the pinstripe out of the boardroom. As leading designers decontextualize these uniforms, we are bound to find the comfort of homogeneity elsewhere. Enter athleisure.
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