Fit for fashion?

The ‘athleisure’ subgenre of attire makes it acceptable to wear gymclothes everywhere.

Shoppers in Dubai were enormously excited over limited edition trainers endorsed by the rapper Kanye West. PRNewsFoto / VH1

Shoppers in Dubai are, as we reported yesterday, enormously excited over limited edition trainers endorsed by the rapper Kanye West, to the extent that some of them slept overnight outside a shop that had a small stash of the select footwear. Some might say this is all about the so-called “celeb effect” on fashion, but could it also underline another trend? The fashion for clothes and shoes that reflect the active life? Time was when you wore a pair of sweat trousers to go to the gym and nowhere else. Ditto leggings, hoodies and trainers. Now, gymwear is everywhere and is considered the practical attire for everything, literally, clothes for life.

In fact, when Mr West presented his first clothing collection for Adidas Originals at New York fashion week in February, the range seemed designed for practicality – and running on the treadmill – rather than anything else. It’s being called “athleisure”, a fashion subgenre that takes gymwear off the cross-trainer and into casual day-to-day activity. Oh yes, and onto the catwalk too.