My two passions in life happen to coincide for one week every year as the US Open plays out in Queens and the new spring season plays out in Lincoln Center. And this particular September, it practically felt indistinguishable. Not only have tennis pros Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova brought their great love of fashion (and neon!) to the courts, but practically every designer has incorporated traditional sports elements into their collections. Mesh, racerbacks, bandeaus reminiscent of sports bras, zip-up jackets, sneakers, and racing stripes galore.
DKNY showed how to make the look workable for the city girl, with sexy LBDs with mesh outlining halter necks and high-heeled sneakers adding an old school hip-hop flair to pieced leather looks. The yellow anorak that designer Donna Karan took her exuberant walk in was a perfect example of how to incorporate the trend into an existing and sophisticated wardrobe.
Rebecca Minkoff's collection offered up subtly cool girl twists on the idea that you could easily see her fans like The Man Repeller wearing - no wonder Olympian Ryan Lochte found his way into a front row seat. Jen Kao took an even edgier approach, incorporating the glow-in-the-dark effect seen in sneakers into lace patchwork dresses and easy-to-wear anoraks. Glow-in-the-dark made an even bigger impact at Alexander Wang's cyber-chic collection -- we can all say thank you to the young designer for championing this sporty look last season.
At J. Crew's cheerful presentation, models topped their bright, embellished tees and striped bottoms with jaunty baseball caps. And come spring, I can't imagine that any woman's wardrobe will be complete without pants with a sharp racing stripe down the side. From Charlotte Ronson to Lela Rose, there have been permutations of the look coming down almost every runway. Add on the de rigeur anorak, and you can look sporty-chic without breaking a sweat.