Ahead of Milan Fashion Week…

We’re currently right in the middle of the holy trinity of global fashion weeks, and next week wraps up with ‘Milan’, arguably the fashion capital of the world. I was there very recently for blog meetings, and decided to go on an expedition through the sprawling streets in search of fitness fashion inspiration. I found far less than I’d imagined, which totally amazed me. In the era when fitness and mainstream fashion are unstoppably converging, with the activewear category literally growing at double the pace of broader UK general merchandise, the Milanese shop fronts did nothing to persuade me to dress ‘sporty chic’. Click MORE to see some of the discoveries I did make, along with some snaps from the stopover!

The big houses have made token gestures towards something resembling ‘sporty'; Chanel have their now-infamous ‘Couture Trainers‘, Fendi & Alexander Wang have made a decent stab at high-end track trousers, Stella McCartney has gently waded into the premiumisation of Adidas lines… But the worlds most influential fashion houses are totally reacting to the debate, not setting the tone, as they do on all other matters style. Do they feel intimidated by the technological R&D might of an Adidas, the universal appeal of the approachable Nike branding, or perhaps just the sheer volume of choice out there for the consumer? Regardless, they’re missing the key trend of our time that’s causing small brands to startup faster than I can review!

One exciting discovery I made was Oysho, a spanish clothing brand owned by the same parent company as Zara. They’re not in the UK with any physical retail presence, so I’d never actually seen their clothes in person before walking into their Milan shop on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. With the chance to touch and trial the fit, I quickly realised that I completely loved their fitness range; which was high quality, broad, fun-looking and eminently affordable. Amazingly it seems to be the faster-fashion end of the spectrum that’s leading the charge into fitness fashion, probably because they can be so responsive to consumer trends so quickly in production terms, and the cost of ‘getting it wrong’ isn’t so damaging to the brand. I’ve styled and ordered an outfit from the Oysho website and can’t wait to take delivery of it and show it on the blog :D

Also, in these pictures, I’m trying to ‘practise what I preach’ a bit – teaming a staple pair of white fitted J-Brand jeans with my favourite white  Monreal hooded jacket and a boldly coloured pair of Under Armour Speedforms. The aim was for a relaxed sporty-chic look which is smart, but not too smart!

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