Today, there is a high level of customisation when it comes to sports shoes—every sport has a unique need that a particular kind of shoe alone fills. However, some shoes, like the skateboarding shoes [often seen as a beat up pair of high-tops], are versatile enough to wear even when you’re not playing. Before we discuss the fashion side of sports shoes, let’s understand where it all began.

Back track

The first ‘Keds’ are said to have appeared in 1917. They were mostly white or all black and boringly bland. All there was to a ked was a canvas upper fused to a rubber lower or sole. The rubber soles resisted slipping and the canvas uppers allowed air into the shoes. These were called sneakers as one could pad around or ‘sneak’ around quietly on the rubber soles!

The sneakers have come a long way and involve a highly developed and stylised design that ensures optimum performance whatever the sport in question. There are racing flats, track shoes, skateboarding shoes, climbing shoes, wrestling shoes, foot ball cleats and dancing shoes.

New-age technology

Shoes are now developed by podiatrists and scientists to achieve just the perfection one needs. Old canvas and rubber plimsolls are replaced by air cushioned and gel-filled capsules loaded soles. Foam, silicon, air and gel are the most popular materials used to cushion the soles.

Some shoes like the basketball shoes even included a pump valve. Customers were encouraged to pump up their trainers as if they were bicycle tyres. Purchase of the trainers included a pump.

Types of material used

Leather and canvas though still vastly popular are thin and low-density making them unreliable in sports that exact a higher level of strength from shoes.

Ethylene vinyl acetate, which was invented in the 1970s and which consists of millions of miniscule air bubbles packed tightly, revolutionised the sports shoe. The air bubbles absorb the shock while holding your foot snugly. The material can be injection moulded, which means it can actually take the exact shape of your foot allowing for maximum comfort. Meshes are added in the uppers to allow easy breathing.

Another material that is popularly used today is polyurethane. This unique material offers the elasticity of rubber combined with the toughness and durability of metal. Elasticity is paramount as the shoes need to bend and flex under the pressure but bounce right back when at ease. Polyurethane offers just that.

A well-known sports gear brand has now unleashed shoes that are, in fact, like socks. The entire shoe is in one piece and extends over the heel and ankle to grip the whole foot and can actually make you feel like you are running bare foot! No laces, no uppers or lowers.

Putting them on for style

Hollywood stars like Woody Allen wore sport shoes to the Ballet; Dustin Hoffman wore them in All The President’s Men. By the ’80s prominent public personalities picked up the trend and brought it to the masses. Justin Timberlake started the fad of wearing sports shoes with suits and jacket!

Rock stars took them to extremes by studding them with Swarovski crystals. Some even went as far as getting them in solid gold with real diamonds! Hip hop stars epitomised the look with their bulky white shoes and oversized clothes. Before long, everyone who wanted to be seen as hip, was trudging around in sneakers.

Finally with fashion, technology and comfort taking precedence over all else, sports shoes have become a fashion statement. They exemplify personal taste and identity more than just being used for a sport.

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Fabrics that breathe

The fabric used in workout wear nowadays is aerodynamic, lighter and better-fitted for the gym, track and the street. The lightweight and transparent fabric is breathe-easy and highly flexible, making it ideal for any sport no matter how extreme. All premium brands feature moisture-wicking fabrics, to enhance breathability with perforations and vents to allow for body heat to dissipate simultaneously as the person wearing those works out. Colours are more brilliant as lycra and other synthetic threads add lustre to the supple nature of the elastic.

Design sensibility

Modern workout wear incorporates all the necessities needed when working out while keeping the look hip. Renowned designers are being roped in by brands worldwide to bring together functionality and aesthetics in a way that will attract the discerning buyer.

Vintage looking stains and dirty looking splat marks are another trend in work out apparel, with typical street wear elements and vintage details instilled in the design. In addition to this modern photorealistic or computerised prints and embroidery are combined with zoomed up graphics and graffiti.

Bold colours and even fluorescent colours are predominantly in vogue with sports superstars’ faces on the fronts. Another trend that is picking up rapidly is metallics. Figure-hugging tees and tights in eye-watering metallics have taken over from the usual drab cottons. This trend not only makes the body look more appealing and sexy but also lends a very futuristic feel to any ensemble.

Comfort + style

Today’s well-informed buyer wants to include elements like fun, funky and cool to his workout wear. Ergonomics, aerodynamics and an astute study of anatomy and the human movements is involved in creating some of the newer gear. Air flow is very important while working up a sweat and this is kept in mind to place strategic pockets and vents for convenience. The clean lines are inspired from the linear forms of muscles in the human anatomy to make silhouettes that actually sculpt themselves on the musculature therefore improving performance with the sheer comfort provided.

Lesser seams and stitching are now employed with some brands introducing seamless garments. The absence of seams and stitching allows for lesser discomfort and chaffing. These garments are constructed in one piece. Moulded comfort in fabric is what these garments aspire to bring you.

The wrap around or new draped designs too add more support and elasticity to the workout wear as they criss-cross over the body straddling the points where support is most required.

The right pick

Often, we get carried away with the sheer profusion of workout clothes that are available now at every mall and lose sight of what is appropriate for the form of exercise we choose to do. Each workout routine is exclusive and should be treated as such. Even when you do decide to go for funkier stuff, remember it should be in your size, allow you to move your arms, legs and head with ease.

For women, it is important to see that the garment affords ample support to the bust to prevent sagging; use proper sports bras. For men, the same stands true for the shorts. Proper support is important if one has to avoid injury or hernias. While swimming, make sure there is no buckle or strap that is restrictive as this could mean disaster if it stifles your movements while swimming. Also, swim only in swim suits or bathing trunks/briefs, as this is not only practical but also expected.

Leotards [a skin-hugging one-piece stretchable garment designed for both sexes that covers the torso and leaves the legs free] and unitards [a skin-hugging stretchable garment with long sleeves and legs designed for both sexes] that were extremely popular in the sixties have made a resounding come back and for a very good reason. These are appropriate both for yoga as well as Pilates, T’ai Chi and other such routines, which require maximum stretching. The one-piece garment allows you to stretch and bend in peace as the garment stays in place no matter what. Shorter tees and low-slung pants can cause unnecessary ward robe mal functions where none are wanted. There is no point in working out if you are self conscious of the gear.

Always check for the weather before stepping out to work out. Dress accordingly to avoid being frozen or broiled. It is best to layer and de-layer rather than wear thicker fabrics if one is subjected to a variety of temperatures especially in air-conditioned gyms.

Dressing for yoga

Along with the rest of the workout apparel, yoga wear has also had its own upheaval. Gone are the kurtas and tracks, welcome snug, yet supple unitards and leotards with funky Batik prints in eco-friendly fabrics and dyes to boot. Many of these also sport spiritual imagery. Devnagri print in orange is quite the thing to wear. Hemp, jute and bamboo fabrics have joined the ranks of the traditional cottons and linens. Accessories like jute jholas and head gear to complete the look.

With so much variety and functionality available there’s no excuse for you to get into your old exercise clothes. If you have to sweat when you work out, at least do it in style.

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Coloured perceptions

For a long time, a notion prevailed that fair-skinned people can wear or rather pull off any colour of garment. Fair was the preferred skin colour. This has changed gradually but surely; today, wheatish or dusky is largely looked at as glamorous in the field of fashion. But I believe that the colour of a person’s skin is not the only deciding factor in fashion.

And I advise people to wear more of a particular shade in garments based on their personality in totality than just their skin colour. A darker man with a vibrant personality, for instance, may carry off a bright orange sweater with more ease than a fairer man with a calmer, subdued nature.

A whole lot of social conditioning goes into subjugating people of darker skin tones into being wary of wearing brighter colours like yellow and red. It is only a matter of perception. Feel free to experiment with any and all colours of the palette in casual wear. And soon you will find the colours that work best for you. How? By the number of compliments you get or by the general disapproval of your close friends and family members.

Your shade card

When deciding on the colour to wear, you need to consider: the occasion, time of the day, season and finally, the colours in vogue.

For the day: For day-wear, opt for a lighter palette—pastel shades like off-white, peach, pinks or pale yellows, blues and aquas are perfect as they suit any skin colour. For corporate wear in particular, pastels work well as they can be teamed with the darker shades of suits, skirts, jackets and ties.

The darker skin, however, looks better in solids and tonals. That means you wear a tie or a jacket that is perhaps only a few shades removed from that of your shirt or formal blouse.

So, if you are wearing a sky blue shirt, a medium charcoal grey suit is better than a jet black one. Your tie in that case can be a navy blue or a maroon even, but in the same key. This helps you maximise on your richer skin hues and keeps the attention more on you than on your clothes. Fairer people should ideally wear more contrast. Like say, a sky blue shirt with a navy blue suit and a yellow and navy tie. This is because their lighter skin tends to blend with the light clothes.

Post dusk: For evening or party wear, as a rule, darker, richer or jewelled tones work best on all skin tones. By jewelled tones I mean striking colours like bottle green, deep purple, turquoise, deep red and so on. This is because such events are lit with chandeliers, candles or fairy lights and this kind of light is great for these colours.

Fabrics too play an important role in selecting the colour that suits your skin best. If you pick black as a safe colour to wear to parties, then imagine the same black in velvet, silk, satin, cotton and wool. Ditto any other colour. Select fabrics on your comfort level with a particular feel.

The earlier conception that men should wear rougher fabrics like tweed, wool and flannel is now being challenged. Women are experimenting with worsted woollens and men are sporting fine velvet jackets—both to great effect and to the tacit approval of us stylists.

Again, the selection of fabrics depends more on the occasion than anything else. The finer or richer fabrics like silks and satins are best flaunted at evening events like weddings, parties, balls and galas. Breathe-easy fabrics like cottons and linens are better suited to the day events like the Derby or a brunch at a fine dine place. Comfort and practicality was perhaps top of the mind when formulating these unwritten rules for dressing.

As per body type: Above all, common sense is paramount when deciding on what to wear. If you are short, stout and fair, choose a medium-key colour—like a basic blue or grey—even in a slimming print like a vertical pinstripe, or small all-over print.

If you are tall and dark but slim, wear lighter colours that will add dimension or body to your frame.

It’s in you

Our eyes are sensitive to colour at its most basic level and how people perceive us depends largely on our choice of colours. Follow your head and heart to arrive at your own unique palette and you will see the difference it makes to the way you look.

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