This week, the Adrenalista is dressing the part in the latest fashion-conscious luxe sportswear
The best, and in my experience quickest, way to get in shape is to get a new workout wardrobe. For summer, fitness brands are eschewing (for the most) the bright neons that have been a constant in our sports bags for a range of cool blues, soft pinks, monochrome and painterly prints.
My newest, most favourite item of clothing to work out in is a pair of Shadi Activewear leggings in leopard print, £105. Seriously, why have sportswear manufacturers been so slow to catch on to the trend for animal prints? These comfortable, stylish capris, by a brand new young company, are so fabulous that women approach me in the street to ask me where they’re from. Smug rating: 10.
Fashion also takes the lead, naturally, at Stella McCartney’s collection for Adidas, where she adapts a recent mainline catwalk print – namely a paint-marbled design in blue and white – into smart Seven-Eighth tights , £75, a pair of Eupherusa trainers , £120 and a running jacket , £195. Delicious. US brand Lija is also suffering a case of the moody blues: bag a pair of navy-blue Swirl running pants with mesh cut outs and turquoise graphic details, $110. At Sweaty Betty, go for a pair of Zero Gravity tights with a midnight blue print based on antique navigational charts, £85. At Lucas Hugh, Shard leggings in navy and lapis are a smart, sculpted take on the trend, £225.
Art also seems to inspire at Nike, where a pair of Splatter capris appear to have been spray-painted in green and purple, £30 and where a pair of Rosherun trainers , £70, have a pointillist pattern. At Lucas Hugh, the brand’s Prism leggings , £150 and matching tops , £125 are covered in ‘crystal clusters and floral bursts’ – kind of like wearing a piece of contemporary art to your spinning class. (It even comes as a bikini, £150).
Gymwear gets slickly monochrome with Lucas Hugh’s Autumn collection, launching soon. It takes the lead from fashion’s current infatuation with sportswear (Tom Ford, Givenchy, Alexander Wang), featuring a seriously covetable American football-inspired Slider tee (complete with number ‘8’ on the back) and mesh shorts worn over a pair of Vitascope print capris. While a pair of kaledoscopic print Lexi Blondie leggings , £65 and matching Mamie vest , £50, make a good look for a city bike – indoors or out. From H&M, a pair of short sports tights (hotpants, really) in a pixelated black and white pattern with yellow waistband add urban edge to your gym kit, £7.99. This is working out with attitude.
For those of a softer disposition, how about Lululemon’s Energy Bra in a photo rose print, $48, or their Cool Racerback top in a pink-ish camo, $42. It’s almost like wearing Christopher Kane to the gym. Sweaty Betty’s blush pink tennis knit , £80, when paired with the Ace Tennis polo tee , £60 and Advantage tennis ‘skort’ (ghastly word) £55, looks as pretty as strawberries and cream. The brand’s Arabesque seamless dance top , £50 – also in balletic pink – is perfect for barre practice. Even if you have the aptitude of a hippo. Which is what it’s all about, after all: dressing the part.