Sporting a look

JOIN THE EARLY ACCESS PROGRAM HERE

SPORTING A LOOK

LIKE IT OR NOT, SPORTS ARE HAVING ANOTHER RENAISSANCE INTO THE MAINSTREAM

WEB 2 WILL BE REMEMBRED FOR ITS INTRODUCTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATAFORMS, AND THE RISE AND CREATION OF "INFLUENCERS".

Oxford Dictionary defines this term as: a person or thing that influences somebody/something, especially a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by recommending it on social media. But back when we had to buy magazines to know what to wear this next fall, our influencers were celebrities, especially movie stars and singers. They had this unapproachable - God like air that we trusted, and we started copying their fashion choices from red carpets, music videos on MTV, you name it.

There were some names from the sport world that would pop up from time to time, but they were scarce, and they usually had a tie with the fashion world (football player David Beckham, married to singer and now designer Victoria Beckham).





But these past years, the interest shown in sports has experienced a growth, for both men and women. F1 fever is on its high, with documentaries such as Drive to Survive on Netflix expanding its popularity and a flood of celebrities suddenly taking an interest in going to see the races wearing their best fits. In a blink of an eye, hockey players were the main romantic interest of BookTok girlies, and thousands of female fans started to show up at local hockey matches with their hockey romance books under their arms.

Swifties all around the world abruptly got into American football when it was announced that Taylor Swift was "dating" player Travis Kelce and was seen attending his football matches with her mother-in-law. Football fans have enjoyed some drama, and with a lot of European stars such as Messi playing in the MLS or moving to Saudi Arabia to play, it has helped this sport keep its relevance internationally (proof of it are all these documentaries on football on Netflix, the latest about the Beckhams themselves).

Tennis, amid new and young promises, has had Wimbledon look like the MET Gala with renowned celebrities mingling from all kinds of arts to enjoy the event.



This directed all the eyes to sport professionals, who now are perceived by many as trendsetters and daily inspiration. This has given them an opportunity to step out of their tracksuits and use their own social media platforms as a way to express themselves and their personal taste.

We are talking about movies, passions, food and of course, fashion. Some examples are found with Lewis Hamilton, the F1 racer, who has warmed up to post his most daring and gender binary outfits on Instagram. In Spain, football players like Hector Bellerin and Jordi MBoula have also had their fair share of fashion moments on their personal Instagram and on magazine issues. Baseball player Joc Pederson went viral after wearing a pearl neckless during a game just because “he liked how it looked”. Olympic swimmer Tom Daley has shared his love for knitting and creating his own garments, as seen on his social media and talk shows.







And because of that freedom, more glossy magazine covers have been presenting their faces, more fashion shows' front rows have been taken and walked by athletes (last season, sports stars accounted for 0.03% of fashion show guests), and more fashion brand collaborations have been launched. Take Roger Federer x JW Anderson for an Uniqlo collection, and Dsquared2 with Swedish footballer, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, for instance.

Mainstream wise, this phenomenon has been reflected with the -CORE pandemic. Blokcore (coined in the 90s), Tennis core (Old money aesthetic), motor core (Motomami has had some doing here), ballet core, ...You name it.





BUT WHAT HAS FASHION BROUGHT TO THE TABLE?

We have seen more fashion houses and fashion brands get involved in the making of the official equipment and jerseys, like OFF-White x AC Milan, Drôle de Monsieur x AS Monaco or Aries and New Balance x AS Roma. We are also hearing from a new position within the sport clubs: creative director, creative strategist, and even "official style and cultural curator" (bestowed to the late Virgil Abloh by AC Milan).

This gives an opportunity to not only rebrand this clubs with massive communities, but to take a creative turn that can be showcased in and out of the playing fields.

The Fashion giant LVMH, which has previously been involved in the making of the World Cup trophy case by Louis Vuitton, will sponsor the Paris Olympic Games 2024. It will be providing all athletes with custom-made equipment by the fashion brands that fall under this multinational holding conglomerate.

The Olympics also shone on the latest Vogue China's September cover, the most important issue of the year, where it's all about the celebration of sports.

Overall, the sports world is breaking the mold and embarking into a creative adventure, where sports are explored through fashion, art and music (see Barça x Spotify), and showing us that yes, you can be good at sports and also have a sense of style.






By Alba Gonzalez, @_bitas_