If you were to walk through campus, or the grounds surrounding NYFW, or any metropolitan city, and you were to keep your eyes only on the ground, you might notice something: everyone is wearing old-school Adidas. Then, you might ask yourself the following questions: What is happening? Why are fashion girls and supermodels and off-duty celebrities so into these shoes? Why do they look so good? Didn’t I have the same shoes in pink and white in fourth grade? The answers: I don’t know; I don’t know; I don’t know; and yes, you did, and so did I. I have no idea how this happened; I am but a mere fashion mortal. I just know that they look cool as hell, and I have a pair, too, of those black and white Superstars that I rock with anything from a plain black swing dress to these dope tailored sweatpants I got from H&M. I happen to be a huge fan of this trend — experts call it athleisure — because it’s comfy, functional, and mad cool. It’s the epitome of street style, and I’m obsessed.
Athleisure is a fashion buzzword hybrid of “athletic” and “leisure” (ahhh, I get it now) and usually consists of athletic stripes, racerback tops, mesh, sporty coordinates, monochrome blacks and grays, chunky-soled sandals, and fashion sneakers x 10000. It’s like a workout outfit gone chic — like, are you going to the gym? Are you going to class? Are you going to your high-powered job in a high-rise office in the Flatiron district? Who’s to say? Athleisure is all about power and versatility. We women have a lot of ass-kicking to do in a day, and now we can do it without changing out of our heels first. Boom.
Where does Adidas come into play? I don’t even know (like I said: fashion mortal, mere observer of chicness). When I traveled to Europe this past summer, my sister and I became obsessed with these black and white Adidas Superstars. Every cool girl we saw on the streets of Rome and Florence and Barcelona and Mallorca were wearing them, and we started referring to them as “The Shoes.” Girls who weren’t wearing The Shoes were wearing classic Stan Smiths with navy or green or black on the back, pairing them with sundresses and shorts and rompers. They looked so Euro-cool, and best of all, every girl was comfortable, which, if you think about it, is not just a fashion thing — it’s a feminist thing. Ha! Take that, patriarchy!
So, to fashion girls and non-fashion girls alike, I urge you: take advantage of athleisure! You can have it all, which is to say that you can kick back in dope track pants while also looking and feeling like a total lady boss. You got this.
Images courtesy of: NAWO, Essence, The Everygirl, SOS Personal Shopper, and Fashion Fav