Hello, Open Thread. Happy Winter Olympics. Happy Super Bowl weekend. Happy February. And that’s not all: Happy New York Fashion Week, which starts next week. So much going on! I’m genuinely looking forward to these Olympics, which have gotten a little lost amid the global geopolitical chaos. Like the Paris Olympics, these Games are based in a major fashion city — Milan — but they have attracted much less fashion attention. Unlike in the Paris Olympics, which were partly underwritten by LVMH, the mega-luxury conglomerate, no big fashion name has stepped up as a sponsor. It’s too bad and a missed opportunity, I think. Still, on a smaller scale, lots of designers are working with various teams. Some highlights of the opening and closing ceremonies:
Clothes have already been the cause of one Olympic ruckus (those Norwegian ski jumping suits with illegal stitching on the crotch), underscoring how much attention is paid to what these athletes wear. Betcha this is just the beginning of the fashion fun. NUMBER OF THE WEEK
|
In other news that will surprise no one who had followed the rumor mill, Versace has a new designer: Pieter Mulier, most recently the creative director of Alaïa. The announcement brings to a close one of the weirder periods in fashion, which included:
|
This all took place, mind you, in less than a year. Ironically, Vitale’s ad campaign for his one and only collection broke yesterday, and it’s as good as the clothes. It was shot by three different photographers, but my favorite section is by Steven Meisel, showing a gang of people in various Versace looks lying in a sort of love puddle on the ground.
It really captures the chaotic, unapologetic energy of the Versace collection. And raises the bar for Mulier, who is going to have to come out of the gate with some very, very powerful and convincing ideas to replace this.
Think about that. Then catch up on the real point of “Melania,” the movie; check out the chicest dogs at the Westminister dog show; and consider the way Jeffrey Epstein used luxury goods as a tool.
And get ready. Personally, I can’t wait to see what Bad Bunny wears for his Super Bowl halftime performance, given that he became the first man to wear Schiaparelli at the Grammys last Sunday.
Talk to you next week from the New York front rows.
FASHION AND POLITICS | ||
How Epstein Used Luxury Goods to Curry FavorGoyard wallets, Apple Watches and cashmere sweaters were just some of the items sent to friends and associates. By Jacob Gallagher | ||
Make someone’s day and forward this email.
Did you get this from a friend? Sign up here.
Share your feedback on Open Thread by email.
Check out our full assortment of free newsletters.
STYLE SCOOPS |
Every week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader’s fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or X. Questions are edited and condensed.
 |
| Laurel Golio for The New York Times |
Pretty much every serious sports brand is engaged in a technological arms race, busy adding new advances to its workout wear — wicking, padding, springing — all in an effort to convince you that its stuff, and its stuff alone, will make you better at your sport.
While this may be true for professional athletes, who work closely with their uniform sponsors and for whom every second shaved counts — Nike designed a superlight 3-D-printed sports bra for the runner Faith Kipyegon to help her attempt to break the four-minute mile — it is less important for amateurs. For amateurs, let’s face it, stretching probably counts more.
Indeed, when it comes to picking workout gear, or committing to a type of workout gear, the issue for most of us may be more mental than physical. If you feel that you have more power or speed because your shoe or shirt is lighter, you may move as if that is true. And exert yourself as if it is true.
There is nothing wrong with that. Pretty much anytime I have spoken to serious competitive athletes, they have said that what they wear makes a difference. If they feel good, they perform better. In part this is what is behind the trend among female athletes to finally take control of their own uniforms rather than wearing shrunken versions of men’s looks.
As to how you choose what you wear to work out, there are a number of considerations.
The first criteria for amateurs should simply be what feels good and what you can afford. Investment in gear should be calibrated by how serious you are about a sport. Remember all those movies about middle-aged people dressed up in the latest sports tech as if they were about to compete in a world championship? They are almost all comedies.
Then there’s the question of association. Like fashion brands that sign celebrity ambassadors as a way to woo fans, sports brands connect with star performers to sell you the promise that the tech that made that person a success is going to filter down to you. Whether or not that is true matters less than whether or not you idolize the athlete.
On a larger scale, sports brands, even more than fashion brands, have become adept at creating communities around their values, so often people think of themselves as “Nike people” or “Adidas people” or “Sketchers people” or even “Chuck II” people. I have often thought there is an anthropological study waiting to be done in gyms around the city that could map sociocultural groups by sports brand.
And that doesn’t take into account the anti-brand disciplines, like climbing, where looking slavishly beholden to a outfitter is like wearing a neon sign that says “not serious.”
All of which is to say, if On CloudTec sneakers and NikeSKIMS leggings and Adidas Techfit tops are your jam, mix and match with abandon. Just be aware that you may be scrambling your signals.
Finally, whatever you do, stay away from the sports gear from high-end fashion brands. There may be an element of arch irony in a Louis Vuitton bicycle or Chanel boxing gloves, but that works only in magazine photo shoots, or maybe Gstaad.
