Friday, June 16, 2017

FITNESS & FASHION

By Nicole Noël


How Healthy Lifestyle Trends Affect the Fashion Industry

Photo by Alvaro Beamud Cortes / courtesy of Vogue España



For the past few years, we have been witnesses of the healthy lifestyles frenzy and it seems like everybody’s on the competition of living the healthiest life of them all. This reflects in the food we eat, the physical activity we engage in, and in the clothes we choose to wear. People’s preferred lifestyles and fashion industry have always been closely entwined, but now that link is becoming stronger by the day. We see it on the Instagram posts of both celebrities (we all love Miranda Kerr’s yoga postures and smoothie recipes) and regular people – healthy lifestyles are definitively dictating the fashion trends of 2017 and here’s how.



Photos courtesy of Ivy Park, College Fashion, Workout Trends, and Pinterest (Click to enlarge)



What came first?

Since the bond between lifestyle and fashion industry is strong, answering the question of which one of them started affecting the other first is like finding the answer to that old question “what came first: the chicken or the egg?” But still, there’s no denying that proper fitness clothing can motivate you to work out, especially since numerous studies confirmed the existence of the so-called “enclothed cognition”. It’s a proven mental change we go through when we wear certain clothing we associate with certain behaviours. Wearing lab coats can help you perform lab tasks more successfully while putting on yoga pants and a sports bra can motivate you to head to the gym or at least for a jog instead of hitting the couch and having a snack. Simple psychology yet so powerful – as our current fashion trends show.


The athleisure hype

For the past few seasons, fitness clothing turned out to be much more than just gym-friendly clothes – it became a normal part of people’s daily apparel and sneaked into offices, clubbing, and even onto the red carpet. It soon got a name, too, and now fashion experts claim that this athleisure trend is here to stay. As a matter of fact, ALT-living (active lifestyle trend) is announced to be Australia’s biggest beauty trend of the year, so there’s no dilemma that something big is happening. It seems like all designers decided to give it a shot and now make their clothes modelled after the quality fitness wear



Photos courtesy of Nicole Noël, Pinterest, and Daily Social



The reason behind athleisure popularity is not hard to guess – it does really sounds appealing to be able to wear yoga pants and comfy sneakers to work instead of torturing yourself with tight pencil skirts and high heels. This resulted in major increase in the number of people searching for activewear for the past year but the hype is still pretty much real.

This trend brought a shift into how young people spend their money now – the market research shows that retailers who sell clothing that lasts one season are losing their momentum among millennials, while fitness apparel companies are getting more and more customers. It means that young people started to see purchasing clothes as an investment and it’s not just about clothing – it’s about investing in your health and embracing the popular healthy lifestyles.


Wearable tech

Technology became such a pervasive part of our lives so it’s not unusual people want it in their clothing as well. The athleisure trend is giving exactly that to people – clothes that are not only comfy but also easy to maintain because of the technology used to make fitness clothes better and more durable. So, clothing today lasts longer and has nifty properties such as wrinkle and odour resistance thanks to the tech-infused fibres fashion industry uses. 



Photos courtesy of Entrepreneur, Huffington Post, Ecoustics, Bionic, and Luulla

Photo courtesy of Gazette Review



There’s another way healthy lifestyles affect fashion game and it can be noticed everywhere you look – people started wearing gadgets as an accessory. Fitness trackers and monitors are like jewellery now thus making them the perfect Christmas present around the world. Fitness trackers are slowly replacing the traditional watches and getting more and more options by the day, so it’s clear that the future is coming and it’s all thanks to the expanse of healthy lifestyle trends.

It seems that living healthy and looking trendy became inseparable. That being said, it’s no wonder why experts predict that the reign of athleisure will not be short-lived. Healthy living is the new norm and so you can just sit back and enjoy it because being healthy yet trendy has never been easier.



Activity Tracker and Sleep Monitor by Fossil

Sports bra by Victoria's Secret

Yoga pants by Reebok





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