• Meghan Markle will not attend the coronation of Charles III. Here's what we'll miss
  • The thousand and one ideas to combine your long denim skirt, the it piece of the season

When René Lacoste launched a signature with his surname in 1933, he could not imagine that the brand, represented with a crocodile (a drawing that he himself wore embroidered on his tennis uniform during the years in which he practiced this profession), would become a benchmark in the world of fashion and that the aesthetic codes of tennis would be part of the street wardrobe many decades later.

Lacoste is no longer limited exclusively to the sports field, its ready-to-wear collections hang from the wardrobes of celebrities around the world, from Dua Lipa to Rita Ora, but the influence of its original style on current fashion is undeniable.

Round trip

Today, firms are committed to the opposite path to which the brand of the most famous reptile traveled, going from creating sports uniforms to clothing of all kinds. Fashion labels, even those known for their Haute Couture, make obvious nods to the sports world in their collections.

In Miu Miu, one of the favorite firms among the luxury-loving GenZ, they have made the ballet dancers and warmers popularized by Jane Fonda in the era of the aerobics boom, two essential elements for followers of trends. In addition, the firm captained by Miuccia Prada also managed to turn last summer the tennis skirt -updated according to the dominant trends- into an object of desire. No matter its three-figure price.

Clay, grass... and asphalt

In the new season, it has been Celine who has taken the world of tennis as a reference to devise a series of garments and rackets photographed by Hedi Slimane (the multifaceted creative director of the French firm) in the middle of the tennis court. The commitment of Mango and its recently launched capsule collection Mango Tennis Club also follows the same path and reaffirms the success of sportswear-inspired clothing also in the category of affordable brands.

Image from the Mango Tennis Club capsule collection.

Tennis, a sport always linked to the social elite, has shaped the trends of recent seasons, but it is not the only discipline responsible for the metamorphosis of the wardrobe and the success of informal styles.

Many goals

The village sport, football, has been especially influential on the catwalk in recent times. So much so that in social networks the term blockcore has become popular to define those outfits integrated by football shirts and sneakers of all kinds. Among them, the most successful of the moment are the Adidas Samba model, created in 1950 for football players in Germany, in need of a shoe that would prevent slipping in times of frost.

The Adidas Samba have returned with force this season. Getty

In that year the famous World Cup in Brazil was celebrated and from the sports brand they paid tribute to the country by baptizing their new shoes with the name of the most typical dance of Brazil. More than 70 years later, those sneakers sell out again and again. This is the cyclical nature of trends.

On the court

Converse sneakers, an icon of street style. Getty

However, nothing better represents the influence of sport on fashion than the firms linked to basketball. At the dawn of this sport emerged in the late nineteenth century in Springfield (Massachusetts), Converse was also born, a seal that revolutionized the market thanks to its canvas shoes and rubber sole, a material that enhanced grip on the court. For decades, Converse became the main supplier of footwear for basketball players, but from the 70s the sneakers were rediscovered by young punks, who elevated the famous shoes – whose design has remained unchanged for years and years – as a symbol of the counterculture.

The irreverent Sex Pistols made it clear that the Converse not only served for sports, although Sylvester Stallone wore them in 'Rocky' to train. The ill-fated Kurt Cobain was responsible for printing to the Converse that image of cool footwear, favorite among those who sought to stand out from the rest. In 2023, its use is as widespread as that of jeans or the white shirt, and few remember the basketball origins of these shoes.

Much more present is Nike's connection to the sport of the basket. Specifically, its emblematic Air Jordan sneakers, created in tribute to the legendary Michael Jordan. The fascination for this design is such that Ben Affleck has just directed and starred in a film, 'Air', where the history of the sneakers is addressed, how the contract with a then almost unknown Michael Jordan was forged and how the sneakers elevated Nike, which continues to offer new versions of the model year after year.

The Air Jordan has become the subject of a movie. Getty

Dancing and horseback riding

Even pole dance, a discipline that seeks to be recognized as an Olympic sport, has served as the common thread of some of the most talked about campaigns of spring, such as the one starring supermodel Gisele Bündchen for the Brazilian footwear brand Arezzo.

The equestrian boots that dot the looks of the attendees of the most exclusive parades of the fashion capitals rival the short tights and the screen glasses with iridescent lenses that we usually see among the cyclists of the Vuelta a España and that now impose themselves as a transgressive alternative, from London to Copenhagen.

The same happens with Salomon boots, the brand created in 1947 in the French Alps has seen how pop culture icons have assimilated the Alpine aesthetic as a disruptive element in their wardrobes. This was demonstrated by Rihanna in her much-discussed performance in the past intermission of the Super Bowl, when she took the stage dressed in an aviator jumpsuit signed by Loewe and red Salomon sneakers created in collaboration with Maison Margiela.

Rihanna during her performance at the Superbowl.Getty

Athletes as a great claim

It goes without saying that the millionaire income of the most successful athletes is even more bulky thanks to their juicy advertising contracts, but leaving aside the alliances between specifically sports brands and sports figures, more and more general fashion firms are betting on signing big names in tennis, football, basketball ... as protagonists of their campaigns. The tennis player Naomi Osaka, for example, has just launched her first collection in collaboration with the lingerie firm Victoria's Secret, but before that she already enjoyed her position as ambassador of Louis Vuitton.

In 2018, Roger Federer ended his contract with Nike to ally with Uniqlo, the Japanese textile giant and, without leaving the field of tennis, we can not forget the recent collaboration of Carlos Alcaraz with Calvin Klein. Unity is strength and both industries, fashion and sports, become even more powerful when they forge alliances that merge the two worlds.

  • Fashion trends

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Learn more