Casually smart, smartly casual

If not long ago we had been told that during Fashion Weeks, the epitome of style, anyone would have been spotted in tracksuits we probably wouldn’t believe our ears. It is true that the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have caused comfortable clothing to be on the rise again, although the sporty trend began a few months earlier. Now, in street style, there is a style formula that stands out above the rest: mixing tracksuit bottoms with smart shoes and a blazer on top. This mix of opposing styles has resulted in a curious trend that, admittedly is very effective.

Blindly following an unspoken fashion rule can limit you down when we talk about creating a special look. Many icons in the world of fashion have become benchmarks purely because they dared and had the ability to mix, innovate and establish their own trends that triumphed, provoking with atypical or unexpected bets before anyone else. A few years ago, it would have been hard to imagine that the combination of sneakers with tailored trousers would be as popular as wearing jeans with a basic T-shirt, but the truth is that nowadays wearing sneakers with work-inspired garments is the most common thing. But it is the inverse formula already mentioned above, that I want to delve into this time; the one that consists of combining the tracksuit with a blazer. More and more fashionistas and stylists are opting for this comfortable and different choice. Integrating pieces of these two opposite styles is something that began to be seen in the summer of 2019, when the tracksuit became a common garment in everyday life due to the pandemic. Devoted fashion followers and trailblazers then chose to add a dose of sophistication by adding a jacket in the same colour as the trousers. They changed their suits for oversize sweatshirts and tracksuit bottoms. As mentioned before, an easy way to succumb to this type of outfit is to go for unicolour mixes or garments of similar shades. This way it’s most widespread when it comes to merging these two contrary garments in a street look, yet it is not the only alternative.

Equally in my case, I have settled on juxtaposing dissimilar types of clothes with an extra push. Wearing a black double-breasted blazer in a classic cut together with multi-coloured sporty Nike shorts. The latter is a very creative piece in its own that combines three different shorts in one making it unique and eye-catching elevating the whole look with its mix of prints and bold colours. And then an oversized white t-shirt; a casual top in contrast with the black socks and leather derbies to smart it up. The black cross-bag along with the sunglasses are the perfect accessories to complete this unusual and striking look.