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The Fashion Club Breaks A Sweat (7/18)

Welcome to the Avocado Fashion Club, where you can check out a style and fashion trends for all gender expressions, browse a curated selection of fashion collections, and chat about style tips and suggestions with your fellow Avocados.

With both the World Cup and Wimbledon just behind us, the Fashion Club takes a look at sportswear and the ever-popular athleisure trend. In particular, this edition highlights fashion’s presence on and off the playing field and the influence of athletics on everyday style.

SPORT STYLE: FASHION ON AND OFF THE PLAYING FIELD

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So, what exactly does women’s football-inspired fashion look like? Well, according to Lyst, women are unsurprisingly not just searching for practical kits they can play in. 

Some of the most searched-for pieces have been vintage-inspired, including USSR and German mesh dresses by Adidas, while embellished football shirts by Koche have also proved very popular. Searches for “football scarves” have been up 12 per cent since March after Instagram influencers championed the trend during fashion week in February.

Even if Harden weren’t one of the most recognizable athletes alive, his outfits would give him away. His style has evolved a ton over his eight years in the NBA, but there’s been evidence of audacity from the start. In his draft-night photo with then commissioner David Stern, Harden’s beard is still in its infancy, nothing close to the Babylonian garden it is today. But his suit sure is something. It’s a three-piece in beige, with what appears to be piping on the notch lapels and pocket flaps, plus a striped lavender shirt, a cream pocket square, and a patterned bow tie. He looks like a very friendly steamboat captain.

Before the thick beard and the blond ’do, before the collage of hundreds of tattoos covered his body, before the Spiderman-like, three-finger snag that broke the Internet, Odell Beckham Jr. had a pink velvet blazer. Even as a teenager getting ready for his middle school dance, the Giants wide receiver always had to find a way to stand out.

“Everybody was getting their suits and I was wondering, What can I do to be different?” he recalls. “That blazer might have been a size too big at the time, but I just had to have it. To me, it was the hottest thing in the world.”

Then there are the ‘psychedelic ninjas’ such as Neymar, whose cartoonish style can sometimes border on the ludicrous, ‘hired assassins’ like Alex Oxlade Chamberlain who favour a gritty leather jacket and some rugged denim jeans and finally the ‘bohemian fauxhemian’ pack, led by gritty Everton left back Leighton Baines, whose mod-led style is more flouting bassist for Oasis than gritty Lancastrian raised on a diet of two-footed tackles and boggy Sunday league pitches.

THE LOOK BOOK

Clothes and accessories for all your street style needs. 

So why has Southgate turned to the waistcoat? The item has been described as the male version of the corset (albeit much more comfortable), framing the body to positive effect – depending on the body. In some cases, you’re better off leaving them undone rather than buttoned up. It’s also an easy way of smartening up an outfit, elevating the shirt.

…what makes Wimbledon truly relevant to the business of getting dressed is that its fashion power does not derive from untouchable haute couture wardrobes. The joy of Wimbledon is that everyone is chic. The famous all-white dress code ensures that every on-court shot is a pure visual harmony. Then there is the Gatsby-esque dreaminess of the Ralph Lauren uniforms. Ballgirls and ballboys wear simple preppy navy polo shirts and polo dresses, while umpires and line judges wear blazers and smart cream slacks. The elegance of the uniforms is a lovely thing, because it makes those working at Wimbledon as central to the glamour of the place as the Duchesses in their Alexander McQueen tea dresses.

There’s a particular kind of oversize straw hat—so massive it’s nearly unwearable—that’s trending. Designer Simon Porte Jacquemus and his La Bomba spring 2018 collection is partly responsible, with its gigantic shoulder-grazing headgear that defied gravity (and practicality) and evoked the luxurious feel of a beachside vacation.

Of course, these functional products have been on the market for some time, but sneakerheads and fashionistas had no reason to take notice before, with the exception of the Japanese market, where technical styles from Mizuno and sandal brand Keen have been cult favorites for decades. But now, new technology, exciting collaborations, and a fresh view of product marketing are favorably positioning hiking styles for the global market.

ON THE RUNWAY

Collections that caught my eye this week.

[Clare] Waight Keller paid tribute to Givenchy, who died in February this year. She is the first creative director at the house to honor his legacy, a gesture that’s at once respectful and humble, as well as brave: To look back is to risk getting stuck there. Waight Keller insisted on the project. “Having met him, and the fact that he passed three months ago, he felt very present in my mind; his legacy felt like something that needed to be celebrated,” she said backstage. “Everybody knows his work with Audrey. But less so the capes, the peekaboos, the architecture, the flou. . . . It was a wonderful trip for me to discover it and reinterpret it my way.”

For Spring 2019, BODE draws inspiration from collaborator and friend Aaron Aujla and his grandfather, who made his way to British Columbia from India many years ago. Once settled in his new location, his Indian roots began to blend with the Canadian culture. 

…a collection that spoke to fashion’s undying nostalgia for normative streetwear: orange velour tracksuits, college-style sweatshirts, distinctly 1980s geo-patterned windbreakers, and check bondage trousers with kilts. 

By the end, the paradise thread blossomed into brilliantly colored oversize collages of palm trees, beach scenes, and a parrot, printed onto blanket wraps, cagoules, and outsize scarves. Green described the fabrication, laughingly, as “like beach mats.” They were outstanding and uplifting, a career landmark which confirms Craig Green as the equal of any menswear designer in Paris, Milan, or elsewhere. Out of these dark times, this complex, sensitive talent shines.

And now, this week’s bonus question: Do you incorporate sportswear into your wardrobe and if so, what role does it play in your personal style?