Sports Luxe: Love It Or Loathe It

Sportswear has always been a rather dominant movement within the fashion industry, especially during the 80s and 90s . However, now it's back and all over the forefront of the Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter 2016 runways. From Balenciaga's business-like cagoule paired with sartorial suit trousers and Versace's Après-ski look consisting of ski pants and clumpy clodhopper boots draped in chains, to Louis Vuitton's luxury body-skimming onesie. I think one can certainly say that the athletic look was out in full form.

Balenciaga's trans-seasonal cagoule

Donatella Versace's Après-ski looks

If I say tracksuit, what do we all think of? Yes, that's right, an iridescent two-piece mess worn by a mass of typically British teenagers brandished as "chavs". However, do we continue to think like that? On the most part, yes. Although, there is now a quite sizeable majority who are embracing leisure-wear not just for practicality and accessibility purposes but also because of the fact that influential fashion powerhouses like Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Chanel have all started embracing said trend, giving the nod to anyone daring enough to wear jade green sweats with floral adornments out in public.

The Gucci tracksuit

Susie Lau of StyleBubble

If we think back to 10 years ago, no one would have dared to step out of the door wearing Reeboks, cuffed trackies, an oversized hoodie and a seemingly solemn looking cap - unless you were a member of a suburban cult group that worshipped Vicky Pollard. However, nowadays this has become the norm. We would now actively encourage people to wear hoop earrings, sweatshirts and Adidas trainers as a means of softening our style sensibilities and making everyone look 'edgy' and 'cool'.

Jourdan Dunn in an Adidas mesh overlay

On the other hand, I still believe that there is a fine line between what the general consensus of our nation considers as formal and informal. I simply refuse to believe that such a thing called the 'formal' jogger exists. Nothing about a pair of sweatpants equates to classy, no matter the fabric choice, brand or whether it's styled correctly. It still remains an item of the greatest informality.
At this point in time I am yet to gravitate into the vicinity of sport luxe, with the one exception of my trusty white Stan Smith's (a wardrobe staple in my view). I am certain that over time with the right amount of creative development and confidence we will all be able to happily pull off a turquoise two-piece and wedged trainers with considerable ease.

Please Note: I do not own any of these images, courtesy of Vogue.co.uk & Getty