‘New year, new you’ used to mean throwing out the last of the Quality Street, then running round a freezing park in a pair of saggy leggings and a T-shirt that came free with your home insurance. But in this age of Instagram, “wellness”, NutriBullets and health food bloggers, the annual push for self-improvement has become something of a year-round constant. And to make things worse, now not only do you have to drag yourself away from the telly, you have to look the part too.
Thank goodness then for the clutch of women — from fashion designers to Hollywood film stars — who are creating workout clothes so cool they make exercise seem surprisingly palatable, even at this time of year. It may not feel like it right now, but the January health kick has never been more inviting.
“It’s our business to entice people into the lifestyle,” says Tamara Hill-Norton, the founder and creative director of Sweaty Betty, whose £95 running tights and £60 tanks have been a favourite among the yummy mummies of west London (both in the gym and at the school gates) since 2007. “Going to a horrid gym in horrid clothes is a chore — you should look good and feel good.”
Wellness may have been a 2015 buzzword, but it’s going nowhere for now. Expect to see more people than ever wearing their gym kit proudly beyond the fitness studio this year. Sure, it’s a status marker for health freaks, those who don’t have to wear a suit to work and — inevitably — those who don’t work at all. But sportswear is an increasingly viable option for those who like their clothes flattering, practical, comfortable and (crucially) fashionable. Thanks, once again, to the female pioneers of the field.
“Until now, sportswear has always been about gimmicky stuff that appeals to men and shows how much faster they’re going than someone else,” Hill-Norton says. “For women, it’s got to feel good, be an amazing colour and make you look fantastic. We look to trends, but we also analyse exactly what makes your bum look best.”
Her prized findings include the curving of side seams around the bottom, lifting it instead of flattening it; the positioning of seams along the thighs to slim them visually; and the judicious placing of waistbands to stop bums looking too long. Optical illusions they may be, but they’re the difference between making it out of the changing room in your new gear and giving up before you’ve started.
Likewise at Lululemon — Canada’s coolest export since Joni Mitchell, with three new outposts in London last year and more planned for 2016 — where the design director Antonia Lamartino places shoulder straps just so, in order to soften your frame, and gives vests a subtle flare to skim over wobbly bits. Add to this fabrics designed to make you feel naked during your yoga class (verdict: liberating rather than unsettling) and which combat post-gym odours by releasing positive silver ions to counteract sweat, and you may begin to understand why much of North America already swears by the brand. New pieces arrive in stores regularly, and in small volumes to avoid entire spinning classes wearing the same outfit.
Exercise has always been about making a pact with oneself — the new wave of sportswear designers have been clever enough to make that a positive, rather than a negative. Their aim is to make the trappings of healthy living so cool, colourful and comfortable that people can’t wait to put them on and get moving. And to spend quite a lot of money doing so — Lululemon’s leggings start at £82 while the fashion editors’ favourites from Lucas Hugh are £280 (currently £140). Sportswear sales grew by 9.5 per cent last year, and are expected to top £6 billion.
When creating Gap’s exercise range, the designer Mireille Gindrey wanted pieces that would “look stylish as well as motivate [our customer] to work out”. GapFit’s capri leggings with mesh panels (£23.96), crossover-strap sports bras in citrus brights (£18.36) and cowl-back cover-ups fit for an off-duty ballerina (£23.96) are all part of this new approach, and currently at sale prices — you want to wear them as clothes even before you put them through their paces at the gym. Stella McCartney, whose collaboration with Adidas is now ten years old, agrees: “It’s not the easiest thing in the world to keep fit, so I wanted to encourage women by making sportswear inviting and desirable.”
Her pieces are carefully cut and come in a chic and refined palette of neutral shades — designer sportswear with price tags to match: a jacket costs £260 in the sale (but will take you from yoga studio to supermarket quite easily), while a sweater will set you back £220. Last year, she launched the more affordable StellaSport range (also with Adidas), with leggings at £37 and running jackets at £65.
The actress Kate Hudson is another name on the scene. “It felt like there was a hole in the market for quality athletic wear that’s affordable,” she says. Her brand Fabletics works on a subscription basis to sate the appetites of fitness freaks by offering a new outfit (bra, vest or top, leggings, all in funky colours and prints) for £22 per month.
There’s a similarly sweet shop-esque array of candy-coloured exercise gear on offer across the high street. Look out for Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s new Rosie for Autograph activewear collaboration at M&S this month — featuring a post-workout ballet-style wrap (£35) as well as sports bras (£28) and panelled leggings (£25).
This week, H&M launches a sportswear pop-up in Shoreditch, east London, to showcase its latest fitnesswear collection, full of au courant digital-print leggings (£14.99) and matching water bottles (£3.99). And Nike’s website will build you a tailored 21-day workout plan (complete with soundtrack) that is peppered with inspirational imagery of purple marl running tops (£60) and zingy pink Zoom Vomero trainers (£83.99).
Pieces such as this appeal to both our aspirations and our in-built acquisitiveness, designed as much to be shown off as they are to be sweated in. What’s more, they look and feel enough like normal clothes that they won’t frighten off the uninitiated.
“You have to make it so that someone would want to wear those leggings instead of a pair of jeans, and would feel confident doing that,” says the personal trainer Charli Cohen, who shows her sportswear line at London Fashion Week. Her leggings and crop tops (from £90, charli-cohen.com) feature laser-cut inserts that have an almost trompe l’oeil effect on your silhouette.
According to these designers, buying gym clothes you actually enjoy wearing is half the battle won — and, as a recent convert to the gym, I’m inclined to agree. The other half, as many of you will remember from last January, is a little harder.
Twitter: @harrywalker1
What not to wear in the gym
Cotton leggings they sag, they smell and they’re horribly depressing. Buy a proper sporty pair.
See-through leggings subject them to ruthless bending in the fitting room before unleashing your downward dog.
Baggy T-shirts you may feel like a scared, fat person who is out of their depth, but you don’t need to dress like one.
Muddy trainers buy a separate pair for indoor exercise. Other people have to use that room too, you know.
Denim/tailoring/non-sporty clothing I’m always surprised how many people think this is appropriate.
Tiny bra-tops fine if you have the abs but please, not in January — give the rest of us a chance
Best buys
(see slideshow above)
Leggings, £14.99, H&M (hm.com)
Sports bra, £12.99, H&M (hm.com)
Newport hoodie, £17.50, Fabletics (fabletics.co.uk)
Siren tank aqua, £75, Charli Cohen (charli-cohen.com)
Lucia tank, £17.50, Fabletics (fabletics.co.uk)
