On Sports and Fashion
A love story
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved both sports and fashion with equal fervor.
Let’s chalk it up to nurture and nature. My father, who played defensive end at Boston College, called my sisters and me “sports fans” as a term of endearment. When he wasn’t on the sideline of our soccer matches yelling “Assume the athletic position!” he could be found on the golf course or watching hours of football from his recliner in the living room.
Our mother enjoys sports and can dissect football better than most men but her first love is fashion. My sisters and I spent hours with her in dressing rooms scattered around Boston. The Chestnut Hill Mall was our first playground. As kids, we knew the layout of Filene’s by heart. As teens, the salespeople at the Nordstrom shoe department recognized us by sight.
In the ‘90s, girls who liked sports were still called “tomboys” and expected to care little about fashion. And yet, even from my earliest days playing pee-wee Parkway Soccer, I was interested in the ways that style and sports could intersect. My first soccer team wore purple. I remember feeling bad for other teams in garish orange or boring black. As my parents granted us more autonomy to pick our own activities, I made my decisions based on the clothes.
There was a brief foray into gymnastics for its sparkly leotards, followed by a longer journey with competitive Irish step dancing for its bedazzled finery. I wore a black velvet solo dress, complete with a white lace collar and orange and green Celtic knots. I blame my mother for torpedoing my prospects as a step-dancer. For refusing to buy a wig to transform my limp ponytail into a gleaming mass of curls or paint my eight-year-old eyelashes with mascara, I lost points at every feis.
I dabbled in figure skating, wearing a magenta dress with a high neck and a softly floating skirt to practice shaky toe loops. I quit because the lessons focused more on blade work than spins and jumps. Didn’t they know this was a dress made for leaping?
As a city kid, I dreamed of playing lacrosse or field hockey, running down a grassy suburban field in a plaid skirt alongside girls with blonde braided ponytails and names like Sterling.
And somehow, I became a rower.
If there is a sport with worse uniforms, I have yet to find one. The spandex unitards we wore to practice and compete are universally unflattering, a study in camel toe. The legs landed at the worst possible spot on muscular thighs (though there was an art to scrunching them shorter you learned as a more seasoned athlete). Pulling down the straps to expose your sports bra was a surprisingly controversial choice. There were boat houses where it wasn’t allowed. To me, uni down was for practice, uni up was for serious stuff: erg tests, seat racing, and competitions.
And yet, despite the uni’s inherent and unassailable ugliness, I found ways to add some flair. In high school, I designed a practice uni in our team colors – a sleek black body with a red Hawaiian print down the sides. At the time, activewear didn’t exist as such – this was the mid-2000s era of Nike tempo shorts and oversized cotton tees (to discuss later – how Challengers nailed this look for Zendaya). Matching sets were a distant dream. I loved designing unis that were colorful and feminine – delighting in the idea that we could both look good and go fast.
Today, activewear is fashion. Collaborations like Loewe x On, Beyonce for Adidas, New Balance and Aime Leon Dore drive major cultural currency. Performance-driven brands like Salomon and Hoka dominate streetwear. Where once we debated if leggings should be worn in public, Lululemon Align Tights have displaced jeans as many women’s default attire (and cost nearly the same amount as a pair of Sevens used to run).
The long overdue rise of women’s sports has provided even more opportunities for sport and fashion to intersect. It’s clear there is a tremendous appetite for it. From the WNBA’s partnership with SKIMS and Glossier, to the overwhelming sales of Caitlin Clark jerseys, to the ubiquity of Togethxr’s “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” tee, the marketplace is just beginning to recognize the power of catering to a female fan base beyond pink baseball hats.
The Paris Olympics seem poised to further cement sport at the heart of fashion. LVMH is a premium partner for the games and already we’ve seen a certain je nais se quois to the French organizing committee’s approach. From its chic Marianne logo to Carine Roitfeld-designed opening ceremony outfits, Paris 2024 is centering high fashion alongside the highest echelon of sport. (Vogue’s 100-Year Celebration of Sport this weekend before Paris Couture Week only further underscores this synergy – though “Vogue World” was much more fashion with a dash of sports than anything else.)
This newsletter is a reflection of my personal and professional obsession with sports and fashion, as well as the rising tide of interest within our wider culture. As I examined the existing media landscape, I realized that there was no one exploring women’s relationship with sports and style in much depth or nuance. My goal with this newsletter is not only to explore the ways the two intersect but also to speak with women about how they dress for performance.
Having worked in the sportswear industry for more than a decade, I’ve seen the ways that women and other historically marginalized people remain outliers at the highest levels of decision making. My hope is that by exploring these topics, we can uncover ways to better serve women athletes and celebrate the unique style we bring to sport.
Quick Thoughts
Things that caught my eye or my ire…
I have a long list of women I want to interview for this newsletter but would love to know: Who would you like to hear from?
There’s a lot to discuss from the U.S. Track and Field Trials in terms of fashion, but given we have one more weekend (and I am running out of space!) I will try to be brief.
Best Kits: On’s speed suits are sharp.
I also liked Jasmine Moore’s orange cropped tee and pink briefs by Puma.
Best Style:
TeeTee Terry accessorized her Nike kit to a, well, Tee.
I clicked on the Instagram profile of the women’s Hammer Throw champion, Annette Echikuwoke, and was immediately struck by her strong sense of style. Lululemon, Glossier… get on this!
I love Nia Akin’s pink hair, which matches her Brooks kit perfectly.
I want to focus on women’s sports, but would be remiss not to recognize Noah Lyles and his singular commitment to standing out. From the pearls around his neck and in his hair to his Gucci walk-in look, he is setting a high bar for fashion on and off the track.
Sports Illustrated profiled Athing Mu. This article does not touch on her crossover appeal in much depth, but it’s worth noting that Athing Mu has tremendous style and the potential to be a fashion star (I saw her off the track at the 2021 Trials and was particularly struck by her ballerina-like poise). One of her biggest competitors in the 800m, Keely Hodgkinson, is also particularly stylish and not afraid to show it, as evidenced by this Vogue UK piece.
Ralph Lauren debuted the opening and closing ceremony looks for Team USA. The closing ceremony looks with their racing-inspired vibe are a big no from me. The opening ceremony look – a blazer and light-wash jeans – has promise, but what annoys me about these collections is that they are clearly designed for the male athletes FIRST, then adapted for the women.
Carine Roitfeld’s tuxedo-inspired styles for France suffer from the same issue. Perhaps proving my point, Canada’s looks by Lululemon are far superior, hitting the right sporty yet fashion-forward notes. Subscribe below and comment if you’d be interested in a full ceremony fashion breakdown…
Similarly, I am obsessed with the suits Left on Friday designed for Canada’s women’s beach volleyball team.
This story is a few weeks old, but I loved learning how elite gymnasts design their leotards. Jordan Chiles’ Beyonce-inspired leo is a showstopper and I am drawn to Simone Biles’ and Sunisa Lee’s chic kits.
Tracksmith dropped a new film for the US Track & Field Trials. Having worked there for seven years, I am biased, but I always appreciated the brand’s commitment to long-time collaborator Emily Maye’s distinct directorial vision. She is uniquely good at showcasing female athletes in all their raw, unfiltered glory. Having worked with her closely, I know her commitment to capturing authentic moments and serious efforts. These films are shot in the midst of real workouts and Emily often waits patiently until things get ugly to start capturing content. There is no hair and makeup on “set”, or spray bottles of water to create sweat, just the natural beauty that comes from working really hard. To be fair, I appreciate Bandit’s approach to showcasing women training for big goals, here.
This is borderline when it comes to fashion but I have to register my distaste for this post-Olympic qualifying proposal at the US Swimming Trials. Let women be celebrated for their athleticism, not for getting a ring. This tweet sums it up.
I am excited to watch the evolution of the Zendaya x On partnership. As this Vogue story showcases, the storytelling appears to center less on performance and more on themes of mental health and community. I’d love to see a celebrity partnership that was more performance-focused – not everything catering to women needs to be softened. For example, Cynthia Erivo is a serious runner – let’s get her a collaboration to time with the Wicked film launch and NYC Marathon.
I cannot speak to the performance of these looks, but the Byrdie Golf Social Club x Couper collaboration is pattern-mixing prep at its finest. I am not, and likely will never be, a golfer, but appreciate the brands popping up to serve this customer and attract new players to the sport like Sydney James Golf.
