Scoring points herethe leggy little black dress outlined with white.
By Laura Whitcomb for Label.
Ralph Lauren has seen the future and it is sports.
Call it Revenge of the Jocks: From Milan to New York, racy athletic stripes are the motif of the moment, starring on a mix of authentic, straight-from-the-playing-field pieces and chic designer looks for both day and night. Scoring points here—the leggy little black dress outlined with white. By Laura Whitcomb for Label.
And hes not alone.
They dont wear them to work out, they wear them to work.
And, thanks to trendsetters like Sonic Youths Kim Gordon, they wear them out at night, too.
Fitness gear meets formal wear,right:Isaac Mizrahi trims warm-up pants with tuxedo-like touches of satin and pairs them with a French-cuffed, wing-collared shirt. Giving lips natural-looking color: Cover Girl’s Continuous Color Lipstick in In the Nude.Left:Getting a jump on spring’s sporty look— DKNY’s skinny striped dress in fashion’s current favorite color, white.
The shoes to match?
Adidas Gazelles, naturally.
Fashion has picked up on the retro simplicity of Adidas.
Yves Saint Laurent’s twist on the classic stripe scenario,right:He runs a band of white down the front of a slim stretch of black. Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche.Left:Adidas’s signature stretch leggings turn up with a scaled- white cotton shirt. Polo Ralph Lauren for Boys shirt.
In active clothes you feel your body.
Its a simple sensibility, but it has a great sexiness.
And people are going to wear these clothes no matter what, so why not give them style?
Stripes shine at night, racing down the sides of a lean, low-slung sequined skirt,left.Jeanette for Jeanettics skirt. School Apparel top.Right:Nonchalant layers—a cropped top, a slender tank, and roomy pajama pants—get piled on in the freewheeling manner of warm-up gear. Future Ozbek cropped top. Hanro tank. Sulka pajama pants (sold with matching top). An easy way to protect skin from the elements—with Cover Girl’s Protective Skin Nourishing Moisturizer SPF15.
Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche.Left:Adidass signature stretch leggings turn up with a scaled- white cotton shirt.
Polo Ralph Lauren for Boys shirt.
Karan created her very own version of the high-tech cross-trainer for DKNY (with an inverted swoosh trademark).
COVER LOOK: Two newsmaking trends for spring—fitness-inspired fashion and the return of pretty color—meet on model Niki Taylor, who sports Chanel’s azalea-bright jacket, white tee, and a pair of signature beige-and-black blades that careered down the Paris runway. Echoing fashion’s colorful thinking: the move toward pink tones in makeup. Here, Cover Girl’s Remarkable Lipcolor in Fabulous Fuchsia. Jacket and tee, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel. Suspenders and blades, Chanel. Fashion Editor: Grace Coddington. Hair, Christiaan; makeup, Brigitte Reiss-Andersen for Jacques Dessange.
Designers are no strangers to the fusion of fashion and fitness.
But they also wanted the comfort that comes with the high-tech fabrics theyd grown accustomed to in workout clothes.
Designers took note: Norma Kamali adopted sweatshirt fleece for ready-to-wear.
Calvin Klein cut sweats out of cashmere.
Donna Karan turned virtually every underpinning into a bodysuit.
Karl Lagerfeld teamed neon-bright biker shorts with Chanel tweed.
Ralph Lauren outfitted the U.S. Americas Cup team and sent their gear down the runway.
Future Ozbek cropped top.
Sulka pajama pants (sold with matching top).
An easy way to protect skin from the elementswith Cover Girls Protective Skin Nourishing Moisturizer SPF15.
Even Barneys new Madison Avenue store sells golf cleats among the rows of Robert Clergerie boots.
And at Bergdorf Goodman there are $350 walking shoes for sale in the posh second-floor shoe salon.
Im into gym shoes.
We have a line in the new store called Active Trainer.
Whats been missing is style in this kind of clothing.
It doesn’t take Ralph Lauren to wake up the fitness world to that fact.
But now with heavy-soled boots conquering the street, we have to think about that, too.
The crossbreeding doesnt stop there.
We emphasize the function aspect of a product, but we also think about the street potential.
Were inspired by distressed fabrics, a gritty, more urban look.
Function isnt the message of advertising anymore, either.
Its an easy-listening world out there.
Its just more about life.
My clothes are about living, echoes Lauren.
A big part of how people live their everyday lives today is active, whereas years ago it wasnt.
Now theyre both in sneakers.
