At the end of the last decade, fashion writers tried to summarize the general style of the 2010s. The word that kept coming up? Athletics. Skinny cycling shorts were popularized by the Kardashian-Jenner family in neutral and earthy tones. Cute, oversized sweaters became our new favorite styles after they were seen swallowing the body of the decade’s biggest pop star, Ariana Grande. Meanwhile, just about every fashion brand had some kind of collaborative trainer on the horizon, be it Pradidas and Miu Balance or Off-White x Nike. Then the lockdowns kicked in and we all ended up dressing like Princess Diana on one of her casual days off all year long, when all we wanted was to go out in a sneaky LBD revenge look and show our exes what they were missing. .
Naturally, now that in 2022 restrictions are mostly being lifted and we’re getting back into the real world, athleisure just isn’t giving enough for our social outings. Instead, in keeping with the SS22 and AW22 collections that were presented on the catwalk, our new aesthetic comprises very specific sporty cuts. There were classic baseball motifs from Off-White, Louis Vuitton, Boss and Moschino (the latter even sporting a branded bat); ’80s track ensembles at Alled Martinez; Phipps walk-ready garments; figure skating-style garments at Balenciaga; and Y/Project Fila-collab cut-out vests. But then there were the items that appeared to have been taken from the Olympic locker rooms. Think: Chanel jockey caps, Gucci soccer pads, and wrestling jerseys clinging to the bodies of male models courtesy of designers like Loewe and Lazoschmidl.
Can we catch a ball let alone play football? Absolutely not. Will we still wear the Dior Fall 22 chest and shoulder pads in September? Probably. Would we wear SS Daley SS22 tank tops for WWE wrestling or an Off-White AW22 jockey helmet for riding? It is very unlikely. But whether it’s boxing looks or equestrian cosplay, each of these collections usurps the usual rules of who can wear these items and the class- and gender-based social groups that differ with each sport.
Image courtesy of Loewe.
Struggle
No need to have seen Cal Jacob’s queer origin story montage on Euphoria Season 2 to see the homoerotic undertones of wrestling. The hypermasculinity of the fight maintains an unspoken intimacy as two bodies are pressed together with small but thin and easily removable pieces of lycra to separate them. But outside of the wrestling ring, if tight tops and tights were the hot summer 2021 look for gays, then this year we’ll be wearing tank tops. At least, that’s what designers say this season. Steven Stokey-Daley made his LFW debut in a burgundy boarding school-style t-shirt with white trim in his SS22 collection, reminiscent of Victorian men’s underwear. Shimmering club-ready tank tops were part of Loewe’s summer offerings, while Rick Owens had bodysuits with cut-outs that skimmed the navel and exposed the nipples. Lazoschmidl’s wrestling clothes were neon latex held up by black bands and Alled-Martinez had a tight-fitting 1980s-style corduroy two-piece reminiscent of the garment with sheer stripes. However, raunchy undertones were more prominent in Central Saint Martins graduate Alex Wolfe’s SS22 collection, where the shorts gave the impression of removing a T-shirt, revealing the sweaty torso underneath.
Image courtesy of Miu Miu.
Tennis
If Miu Miu SS22 was very ‘school-for-summer’, riding up skirts and trimming shirts to very uneven regulation heights, then AW22 was for sport tryouts at the start of the new academic year. That The Miu Miu SS22 mini skirt, infamous for its memes, received a white tennis makeover, paired with cropped polo tops sporting stripes along the abs-grazing hem. There were also some ballet slippers and leg warmers for those looking to earn as much college credit as possible from their extracurricular activities.
Image courtesy of JW Anderson.
Football
The lines between football and fashion have been blurring for a while now (remember those nappa leather football boot mid heels from Miu Miu’s summer 2021 collection?). We recently had Phil Foden on the cover of iD, Marcus Rashford as a Burberry model and Declan Rice in Prada for the debut edition of CircleZeroEight. But if the players are taking over the editorials and the campaigns, then it is the referee who has become a muse on the catwalk. At JW Anderson’s fall collection, a show dedicated to British party culture that felt like the first night of Freshers’ Week, sporty polo shirts turned into skimpy playsuits and hoop-hem skirts. Or every inch of the classic football garment was covered in sequins like a Bratz doll, in playful shades of blue, pink and gold; along with a pair of matching shorts. On the Coach AW22, the whistles came attached to curly leather chokers that rendered them useless.
Image courtesy of Chanel.
Equestrian
When an eight-year-old stallion trotted down the runway at Chanel’s SS22 couture show in January, there was no question whose horse it was. On his back was Princess Charlotte Casirgahri of Monaco, Grace Kelly’s granddaughter and a great equestrian, wearing the renowned tweed jacket of the historic French house with matching jockey hat, gloves and riding boots. It was a fitting entry for a collection that played with avant-garde constructivism alongside early 20th-century outfits ready for a day at the races, without the fascinators. Two months later, Chanel artistic director Virginie Viard unveiled the upcoming fall ready-to-wear collection that included a variety of moss-hued riding boots and wellies associated with high-class sport.
But equestrian equipment, a great element of luxury haute couture in the past, was not only seen at Chanel, a house already known for its elegance and luxury through tailoring. Truly My beautiful lady In fashion, in his final collection for Off-White, Virgil Abloh toyed with the concept of code-switching (the act of changing one’s appearance, behavior, and mannerisms to fit into a different social group) with jockey helmets trimmed with a baseball cap brim. Or were they baseball caps embossed with a jockey helmet structure? At Gucci, also known for its equestrian heritage, the crash helmet was adorned with the three stripes of its collaboration with adidas. In Palomo Spain’s SS22 collection, male models wore headpieces with nipple-baring jumpsuits, floral corsets and Tudor-style boots with exaggerated gold buckles. At Hermés too, a brand that began as a maker of saddles, harnesses and bridles, the riding boots, perhaps less suited to the mud of the course, came in a variety of chamois, paired with matching knee-high socks and a variety of shapes. tight fitting garments with all the flexibility needed to ride a mare.
Boxing
When Maria Grazia Chiuri brought out the boxing silks in her SS22 collection, it was quite a surprise. As our fashion director noted in his review, “this is not what we expected from Maria Grazia.” But ever since the 2002 era, Xtina, freshly stripped of her overlord Mickey Mouse and embracing her sexuality, wearing a pair of chaps and a striped bra while throwing punches in a boxing ring, the sport and its codes have been a vision. without apologies. empowerment. A pair of baggy briefs in Ludovic De Saint Sernin’s Desir collab appear to be directly inspired by the music video in question, the y2k flames and rhinestone details reminiscent of Xtina’s wardrobe color scheme. But in the case of Maria Grazia Chiuri, the neon-hued boxing attire with matching shorts, bras and robes along with bandage-wrapped cuffs showed a new kind of contemporary woman. One ready to fight.
Image courtesy of Dior.
football
Is there anyone more quintessentially American than the footballer? Beneath his helmet, square shoulder pads and garments ripped from the scrum. He—and in idolatry of him it is often specifically a he—is the pinnacle of patriotism. In the high school movies, he may not be the brightest, but he is the one who is chivalrously and honorably ready to protect the pack. But does his omnipotent strength of him come from inside or from the uniform? In Gucci’s collaboration with adidas, shoulder pads formed the basis of high-waisted tops as strong as the bones of a corset. Christian Dior’s high-tech Fall/Winter 2022 collection had its models protected by heat-sensitive white padding on the shoulders and chest, the exaggerated black cross-stitch that held the pieces together reminiscent of the ball itself.
Cali designer Eli Russell Linnetz has toyed with the vision of the soccer player as a hero as well. In his SS22 collection, feather-winged angelic bodies (the fallen ones who gave their lives for the game), stood in tight briefs and shoulder pads under the protection of their helmets. Six months later, for his AW22 collection, Eli brought the character back as a disfigured, plaster-covered man on a stretcher; embodying an American story that spans decades and collective memories. We went from limping off the war field, to an Uncle Sam full of stars and stripes, and back to the boys’ locker room after the game: the thrill of victory palpable as the players wore boxer shorts and half uniforms. Stuck in the blazer of everything, we almost expected the models to punch the air, with “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” playing over the collection credits.
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Source: i-d.vice.com