By T W Coombs
This is the time when me and the fashion industry do not see
eye to eye and I do not get the dedication and love for what they are showing
at the big fashion house shows. As you
can probably guess by the title I am talking of the high fashion tracksuit that
has hit this year. I just don’t get it.
I am not old fashioned, I am not 100% dressed in tweed at my
country manor smoking a pipe moaning about the fashions of the youth these
days. Or am I? No, definitely not, but I
do disagree with the tracksuit. I feel
maybe the tracksuit has had a bad rap recently which is linked to the hoodie
style gangs of kids (youth these days) they have hit headlines in the last
decade. Not that it needs to be banned
from existence, it is a vital part of gym kit and health fanatics across the
globe. Also as a child I lived in
tracksuits, it was the 80’s but I did spend a lot of time running around and
being active (causing trouble). But I am
now in my 30’s, well and truly, and believe it should be jean, chino or trouser
when not at the gym. I don’t even wear a
tracksuit of any kind at the gym, I have joggers for winter to-ing and fro-ing
but not whilst working out. I am not the
only one with these views amongst bloggers and fashion people I’d like to add.
But the fashion world has changed its tune, and the expensive
high quality, high end tracksuit is now how to dress when out on the town,
WHAT! This to me goes inline with
t-shirts that look like a family of moths have moved in (yes, I’m looking at
you Kanye). They are coming down the cat
walks in all shapes, sizes, colours and i do not like any of them. And what is worst for me is they are selling
them as ‘luxury tracksuit for the modern man’, i mentioned i’m not old
fashioned so what is modern, 20 something’s? Because I haven’t seen them
styling the tracksuit at the weekends either, maybe I just haven’t seen the
most modern ones.
This all came onto my horizon when Palace, the street wear
brand the “kids” love (kids is the quoted term used) are collaborating with
Addidas to release some 90’s inspired tracksuits. Now I was there in the 90’s and we all
dressed really badly, from the grunger to the suit, we all had oversized, bad
fitting rubbish, and the tracksuits were, well, tracksuits, just think Oasis
and they were the tops they were wearing, all very Tony Soprano. And I loved the Sopranos but their dress code
had, let’s just say, some work could have been done (mafia hit now on my head).
If you wear a tracksuit when out and about then that is up
to you, but I will not be joining you in a Versace tracksuit (pictured), no matter who tells
me it is stylish for the mysterious Modern Man.
And I will still ask if you are “off to the gym?”
