ATHLEISURE BY MAISON MARGIELA

Several seasons ago, it was all the New York designers who jumped on the athleisure (sport-luxe) bandwagon. However, for some reason this has been a notion that fashion´s European brethren have taken a little more time to adopt to. Perhaps there is some resentment from the Parisienne houses of Haute Couture or the luxury lineages of Milan that they should adopt their collections to feature the more wearable as opposed to the more artisitic or evening-wear inspired pieces. Quite possibly, this is a notion that we may never really know. This concept is however slowly trickling down from the pond-side and all the key European fashion houses are starting to integrate the athleisure element into their collections.

Taking Milan as an example, there have already been an unanticipated number of brands who have opted for the sportswear aesthetic this season, with names like Max Mara and Versace being some of the followers. Last week, Paris followed suit with this trend as the legendary John Galliano put the finishing touches to his latest Maison Margiela repertoire for the house’s spring 2017 ‘Defile’ collection.

”I wanted to bring the concept of athleisure into Maison Margiela, but in my own way, as function isn’t necessarily top of my mind.”- John Galliano

Galliano’s vision for Margiela was eclectic to say the least; there were sporty anoraks presented in nylon and other fabrics like suede, then along came a dress which looked like a wet-suit over a swimsuit with a towel-skirt composite and a model wearing a fuzzy pink leotard and matching cardigan carrying a cyan yoga matt on her back. The collection also featured shirts paired with energetic nylon shorts which were styled to look like a towel that had been wrapped over the shoulders in a type of post-workout chic. One rather surprising reference from the collection were the shoes, which this season were very well represented and included several solid additions to the current´ugly-chic´ footwear trend, with details such as boot-like silhouettes, sneaker-like soles and Vibram detailing around the toe bridge panels.

A key feature of this collection seemed to emerge from its outerwear; trench coats and work-wear jackets were neatly fitted at the waist and also bore a strong resemblance to Prada’s spring / summer ´17 collection with their knee length skirt and bloomer layers.

You can discover the full Maison Margiela spring 2017 collection in the gallery below.