Just as there is a lot of makeup involved in no makeup looks, there is a lot of style involved in athleisure. Luxury activewear has added a whole new category to people’s wardrobes replacing the gym kits packed with the least stylish T-shirts and your brother’s track pants. High-end collaborations have put this category on the map like never before and made wearing sports bras, gym leggings, and running jackets to brunch cool. Yes, they make it look effortless and easygoing, which it is, but not without the cherry of high fashion dangling on top.
Thanks to models like Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, and Dua Lipa, women’s summer 2022 fashion trends sing the same comfort-chic tunes. Luxury labels like Gucci, Fenty, Stella McCartney, Roksanda Ilincic, and others have collaborated to offer millennial and Gen-Z shoppers an athletic wardrobe. Listed below are collaborations that combined performance with style and made comfort cool forever:
Gucci x North Face
This was a partnership no one saw coming. It married two opposites- North Face, which makes clothing, footwear, and outdoor equipment to Gucci, the producer of flamboyance and fashion. The two luxury brands were back with a second collection after the world showed them with accolades and stashes of cash that athleisure is here to stay and they want more! That cool 70s aesthetic made it to everything from clothing, bags, boots, and even tents.
Victoria Beckham x Reebok
When posh spice dawned on the sporty hat, athleisure became insanely fashionable. The Spring 2019 drop included styles across apparel and footwear categories combining laid-back Californian spirit with refined British tailoring. The superbly designed streetwear pieces perfectly represented a contemporary lifestyle, taking the wearer from the gym to the restaurant without hesitation.
Adidas by Stella McCartney:
This association goes back a decade, with several nineties-inspired collections and prints, prints, prints. But we will always be in awe of the sustainable sportswear ensemble Stella McCartney unveiled for Adidas. The collection included a biodegradable dress and the world’s first fully recyclable hoodie, dubbed ‘infinite hoodie.’ The ‘biofabric tennis dress’ was made of bioengineered sustainable materials and fibers. The collaboration fused high-performance and high-fashion.
Yeezy x 2XU
When Kanye West’s Yeezy label and Australian athletic company 2XU joined hands, training gear and luxury streetwear style became the same. The sought-after neoprene compression shorts and tights became the IT thing to wear; especially after Kim Kardashian was seen sporting them on more than one occasion. Victoria Beckham, Pippa Middleton, Sofia Vergara, and Lara Worthington are other celebrities who made it trendy.
Roksanda x Lululemon:
Lululemon is one of the best-known luxury sportswear brands in the world. Roksanda is a London dressmaker known for more iconic silhouettes. This insane collaboration saw Roksanda’s color and volume coming to Lululemon’s core pieces and technical fabrics. The collection unveiled a technicolor range of attires for those who only wore black and blue to workout. The Lululemon pieces breathed new life in shades such as sienna, deep sapphire, lilac, and mustard, with even the athleisure-averse wearing them outside the gym.
