SPORTY SPICE: Sportswear becomes everyday wear

With the Winter Olympics fast approaching and street style at events full of ladies ditching their heels for flats and running shoes, workout wear is becoming more fashionable than ever. Top designers are creating stylish and sporty collections which blur the lines between fashion and fitness wear, and the high street is following suit.

Stella McCartney and Adidas have now been collaborating for ten years, to create gym appropriate attire that is both functional and fashionable. Her own collection also features sweatshirts with fashion-forward twists. Stella believes that workout gear shouldn’t necessarily be reserved for working out, because some items can be stylish enough for dressing up. Leggings can be worn with heels and any outfit can be dressed down with a bomber jacket. This year sees many others following the example, with sportswear and fashion blending together on the runways and in stores.

Nike recently revealed that Givenchy creative director Ricardo Tisci is set to design a limited edition footwear collection for the sportswear brand. No sign of how it'll look just yet, as he's working on it right now, but it's certainly an exciting prospect.

Adam Selman, a designer new to the runway who is most famous for designing costumes for Rihanna recently revealed his new collection with which he aimed to create masculine items for women’s wardrobes. This means he too has featured cool sweatshirts for everyday wear in his collection.

Opening Ceremony have teamed up with DKNY to create a line of ’90s inspired wares. A bit grungy; full of oversized t-shirts and leggings for men, the collection is also inclusive of heeled runners, sweatshirts and hoodies. As ‘90s nostalgia continues to be in vogue, DKNY x Opening Ceremony is sporty and bang on-trend.

Chanel’s new collection features trademark tweeds in girly colours. Last year, the fashion house swapped heels for chunky creepers, and this year has traded these in for runners at their runway show. Paired with their jacket and skirt sets as well as their floaty dresses, Chanel’s runners give off a walk-to-work vibe that can be continued to be worn in the office, thanks to the matching colours and fabrics. No longer garish, the runner works well with dressy clothes. Here’s hoping the high street follows the haute couture example to save the poor feet of style conscious walkers.

Of course, it’s not just the top designers that have taken to blurring the lines between sportswear and everyday fashion. H&M’s new sportswear range was designed with input from the Swedish Olympic team, and the athletes also tested them out for fit and function. Penneys have also put focus on their newest sport range, emphasising its functionality and style in window and in-store displays. They have new lines, Admiral and Technolayer, and their sleek marketing campaigns look set to rival their competitors.

On the everyday wear side - sporting attire such as baseball and American football inspired jerseys have been a huge deal on the high street and have been worn even on nights out by younger ladies for almost a year now. Many have been ditching their heels for Converse, Vans and Keds, regardless of how much more formal the rest of their outfits are.

DKNY / Opening Ceremony by KT Auleta from Michele Filomeno on Vimeo.