The Future of Sports Fashion is Baroque
What I learned about maximalism in Vienna
Welcome to the folks who discovered The Sweat Lookbook via Running Supply! My goal here is to explore the intersection of women’s sports and fashion. Sometimes that means exploring trends, events, or interviewing founders, and sometimes that means pulling narrative threads of my own making. What follows is one such newsletter – I hope you enjoy! As always – my DMs are open if there are specific topics you’d like me to explore.
I just got back from a two-week trip to Vienna (including a day trip to Bratislava and a weekend in Budapest) with my husband and one-year-old son. Why Vienna? Neither my husband nor I had ever been, and its location at the heart of the former Holy Roman Empire means it makes for good day trips. As a history lover, I’m happy anywhere where I can spend copious time googling/Wikipedia-ing things like the story behind a colorful mansion I spotted on my walk back from a playground. This is how I found the villa belonging to Emperor Franz Joseph’s mistress (with whom his wife Sisi set him up!) and learned about another villa where a Jewish woman hid under the noses of the Nazis living there.
Vacationing with a one-year-old who naps best on the move means I spent a lot of time wandering and looking at buildings. There was a lot to take in! Vienna is a sea of elaborate Baroque, Art Nouveau, and Secessionist architecture. Even their public housing is lavishly decorated. Around the corner from our Airbnb there was a Red Vienna-era municipal housing estate with Art Deco gargoyles scattered across the facade.
Vienna’s maximalism feels in sync with a shift I’ve been noticing in the sports and fashion zeitgeist. Customization, personalization, and vintage looks are in – a reaction to an increasingly cookie-cutter, futuristic performance aesthetic. That’s why things like sports lace are on the rise (see Satisfy’s SS26 Space Lace at Paris Fashion Week, Coco Gauff’s New Balance dress at Wimbledon, and an upcoming launch from a buzzy new brand). Saysky’s and Soar’s FW25 and SS26 presentations featured unexpected patterns from houndstooth to faux fur. Alex Zono’s new collection leans hard into quirk. Adidas, Saucony x 3Sixteen, and Hoka have all trotted out shoe dying or spray-painting content. On’s latest trail campaign included a video of someone embroidering Love, Ultra on a hydration vest.
This shift is percolating in the larger sport-fashion ecosystem, too. Business of Fashion reported that leggings are on the downswing, replaced by looser-fitting, natural fiber styles. Vogue contributor and Neverworns creator
poured over the rise of vintage activewear and the urge to work out in clothing with some personality.As if she’d read the same stories, Zoe Kravitz braved the NYC heat in a vintage tee and running shorts…
And Hadley Hammer’s and Kellyn Wilsons’s latest
newsletter included this prediction:“I feel like we’re going to see a real resurgence of classic styles in the world of gorpcore/athletic wear in the next few years. More on this in a future letter, but in brief, it’s my feeling that we’re in the thick of these very futuristic designs and since the future is feeling more and more ~uncertain~… nostalgic outdoor designs are going to make a real comeback. Anywhere from the iconic 50’s era hiking togs to the punk and life is good vibes of the 90s.”
All this to say, a turn away from the clean girl, futurism aesthetic that’s been trending across performance categories for years is to be expected. Fashion is cyclical. Still, as I wandered the streets of Neubau, wondering at the Viennese commitment to Baroque excess and imagining the people who’d designed and built these intricate structures, I felt hopeful for the future. (Bear with me!)
It should come as no surprise, but I’m not a big fan of AI for reasons both environmental and philosophical. The only glimmer of an upside that I can see from its inevitable rise is in the reaction against it. I’m optimistic for a future where craft, heritage, and personalization – the kinds of things AI can’t replicate – are valued beyond measure. The shift is already underway:
“N.Y.C. art schools see record-high application numbers as Gen Z-ers clamber to enroll,” Gothamist’s Hannah Frishberg reported earlier this month. Art school has a reputation for being totally impractical and mildly dissolute. But what members of Gen Z like about art school, Frishberg explains, is that it has “a comforting, human sense of purpose.”
A “human sense of purpose” seems to be underpinning some of these changes we’re seeing in activewear, too. It’s a trend I am very much here for, and excited to chronicle. So, the next time you’re getting dressed for a workout, channel your inner Empress Sisi (whose nineteenth-century exercise room I saw at the Hofburg Palace) and layer on the (sports) lace.
Vienna Notes App Observations
Connecting Baroque architecture and sportswear – that’s what was on my mind as I pushed a stroller around Vienna. When I wasn’t mentally composing this newsletter, I kept my head on a swivel for other sporty stuff too. Here’s what I spotted:
GenAlpha Dance Wear: We flew through Dublin, and I clocked several members of the McKinley School of Dance headed to the Dance World Cup in Amsterdam. I admired their matching Team Ireland jackets and short tights, worn with high socks and knit green, white, and orange scrunchies. GenA is ok!
BOA Jorts in the Wild: We struck up a conversation on the subway with a young man in BOA faux denim running shorts, which look better in person than they do online.
Skinfit: While waiting for a train to Budapest, I saw a very intrepid mom in mountain biking gear surrounded by a flock of pre-teen boys with bikes. She was wearing a skort from a new-to-me brand with a terrible name: Skinfit. They make functional sportswear that feels very … Teutonic.
Hummel: The 100-year-old Danish brand doesn’t have a big US presence, so it stood out when I saw its logo around Vienna. I browsed their website, and while their overall offering is a bit chaotic, their Danish women’s football team kit hits.
Trekking Poles: Trekking poles: Boomer Austrians::Labubus: GenZ.
Peak Performance: The Swedish outdoor brand with roots in free skiing had a store on Vienna’s main shopping drag, so I swung in to see what was up. I like the cut of the women’s gear – a little boxy, a little oversized – and the use of color, but didn’t love their graphics or fabrics, which felt heavy. Of course, it was like 32C out, so I might feel differently in the winter. Their online styling is really good.
2-in-1 Shorts: In Budapest, all the runner girls were wearing pastel split shorts with built-in short tights. I didn’t get close enough to spot the brand, but these from On or LSKD fit the bill.
New Balance 530s: The fashion girls in Vienna were sporting Y2K styles.
Roll-Top Backpacks: Viennese women are fans of the roll-top backpack, like this one from Sandqvist. They’re appealingly no-nonsense.
What I Bought: I came home with a vintage Sorbonne crewneck and a sheer gingham buttondown, which made for a surprisingly good airport fit paired with my trusty New Balance track pants.
And then I read
’s latest newsletter on the rise of sporty fashion and felt even better about my airport outfit. It seems my day in the style day in the sun has finally arrived. Tomboys with a vintage shopping addiction, unite!