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Sporty-Chic: Why Sportswear Suddenly Became Stylish?

To comprehend how Teeanime brought enormous k-way models, crop-tops and acetate overalls, basketball tank tops and socks, dancer’s bodies, and silk boxer’s bathrobe to the catwalk, we must investigate Guy Debord’s “The society of the spectacle.” To explain why sportswear suddenly became stylish, we will have to tour various media productions and the social lives of celebrities and influencers mainstream: apparently even VIPs have returned to the era of comfortable and versatile apparel, democratic and timeless with an athletic style. If Oscar winners buy with their sweaters at home and Forbes’ most powerful travel in overalls and shoes, why shouldn’t we?

Sport and fashion: the era of athleisure

Sportswear made 46 billion dollars in 2016, 34 million of which went to leggings. In five years, this figure will likely quadruple. The hooded sweatshirt, baseball cap, socks, and sneakers have been the norm for a number of years, but they also make a fashion statement. Thus, athleisure is experiencing its heyday.

Some ancient brands, which have been overshadowed since the early 2000s, are undergoing a second resurrection and competing with international sports firms like Nike and Adidas. Luxury labels are taking influence from sportswear designers and those who have experimented with textile processing and fabrication for haute-couture collections. Sporty chic, luxury sportswear reimagined by fashion stakeholders, is contaminated by this constant flow of styles and stylistic aspects from one fashion declination to another.

Today, you may wear a side-buttoned acetate suit, a sweater, a lycra body, pants or socks, a miniskirt, or a polo dress without looking like a flea market consumer. Today, a bomber jacket and vest or Formula 1 style from Gucci, Versace, Dior, or Alexander Wang guarantees coolness.

T-shirts returned, hiding under tuxedo jackets or with skirts and slacks. At the same time, leggings in various fabrics stopped being runner’s clothing to be worn with dizzying heels beyond Kim Kardashian, and sneakers became the must-have of the man in his work, always racing against time. Sporty chic emerged when the three basic sportswear clothing were liberated from their utilitarian role and used in casual and glamorous outfits.

A culture of images

Costume (a common habit) to fashion (affirmation of the trend) is a simple but elusive process. We all know how it will happen, but we never know how. How and when does a mass-media trend become mass-market? We are the visual culture, living in a time when the word has ceded some of its power to the image. We build worlds with photos and convey our stories. The signifier is valid as such, and it hybridizes media in the wake of contamination in the arts and technologies. Its worth resides in its evocative nature and its ability to fascinate through recognizability.

The theory of nostalgia

Familiarity comforts. Today’s stylists and creatives were 90s teens who grew up with vintage souls, superheroes, gymnasts, and remarkable athletes. Those who liked Beverly Hills, Dawson’s Creek, and The Prince of Bel Air. In publishing, science fiction is back, TV shows like Stranger Things are back, and fashion is back. Our look is the story of our life: the necessity to revive a key part of our heritage.

Sporty chic was unfashionable until 2010. The Spice Girls’ Wannabe video debuted in 1996. “Sporty Spice” Mel C. and four buddies crash a London high society reception. She dances in an Adidas suit and cotton top, winning the MTV Award for best dance video.

The same year, No Doubt produced Just a Girl, a video against the weak-sex stereotype. The song was a worldwide sensation, and Gwen Stefani, the group’s singer, became the face of sporty chic with Vans and cheerleading tops. Baseball, basketball, and American football inspired his colors and clothing. Iggy Azalea’s stunning ensembles have the same appearance, evolved and individualized.

Sport on the runway

Sportswear is no longer indie or patched together like it was when only rappers could outfit sports and make trend. Sport is trendy today.

Technical clothing firms make clothes for athletes, but many of the cuts, materials, and solutions they use end up on ordinary clothes that, with the brand’s agreement, become catwalk clothes. Classic sportswear advances both technically and conceptually, with the discovery and application of high-performance textiles and brand identity work, such as Puma’s Fenty capsule collection with Rihanna.

Sport can make the average person a style icon if VIPs have styled sport. Fitness models are a modern trend. Professional athletes, devoted models, sport-influencers, and fitness bloggers promote sportswear and endorse brands on social media. Their popularity shows that sport is no longer a niche phenomena or the recollection of a childhood trauma: training, demonstrating an active lifestyle, and an eye for health practice are now trendsetting, and wearing a suit is no longer a sacrifice.

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