GOOD SPORT

As fashion falls back in love with purposeful, beautiful clothing that move with ease, Jeffrey Yan takes a closer look at the designers who are making American sportswear great again

- Jeffrey Yan

As is sometimes the case in fashion, the nomenclature can be misleading. American sportswear doesn’t actually refer to athleticwear, but clothes that emphasise ease and freedom of movement. Its beginnings can be traced back to the postwar years, when American women in a rapidly modernising world started seeking both form and function from their clothes. Unlike the French couture of the time, these were clothes meant to be worn not in gilded salons, but out on the streets. Since then, American sportswear has been a style mainstay, not just in American fashion, but in a much wider context. Its popularity ebbs and flows depending on the cultural climate, often making a comeback when the culture starts rejecting excess in favour of restraint. Sometimes, it conflates with other movements. Today, much of the fashion conversation revolves around quiet luxury. When Phoebe Philo debuted her elegantly pared-back Celine collection in the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2008, it was called stealth wealth. Whatever the name, the core value is the same—these are clothes not meant to be fussy or flashy, but chic and functional.