KEY POINTS:
Catherine Zeta-Jones loves leggings. I know this because she told me so, with a quote I can't remember, in a magazine I threw away. She's got into them only recently though and she likes 'em because they're as comfortable as track pants - but more stylish.
Apparently. Catherine Zeta-Jones is not a woman I associate with track pants. Just as I cannot look at her reptilian husband, post-Basic Instinct, without thinking of unisex toilets and a certain sort of tight-fitting turtleneck so, too, will the image of Zeta-Jones forever be associated in my mind with big hair and lots of plunging Versace. Sure she ended up scoffing cake on the cover of Hello on her wedding day, but that doesn't mean the lady doesn't have standards. Zeta-Jones in track pants? In public? Not on your nelly.
And yet, La Z-J would seem to stand increasingly alone on this sartorial point. In refusing to rock her trackie dacks outside the comfort of her own home, Zeta-Jones is making a style statement so old-fashioned as to be almost quaint. The traditional boundaries between leisure wear and haute couture have been happily dissolving for several decades now in the face of an increased recognition of the need for design smarts in all areas of our workaday wardrobes.
It's an acknowledgement that a successful daily look encompasses all of the different demands the day brings. Your average well-rounded, high-achieving, mildly sick-making urban professional needs to look as fashion forward at the gym or on the circuit as she does in the office. A manky old T-shirt from a team-building exercise in Rotovegas circa 1997 might signal business time for the Conchords, but it's a definite turn-off for Pilates at Les Mills. Hence, the increasing popularity of collaborations between top-tier designers and sports labels.
It was Stella McCartney who kickstarted the sports-fashion fusion, delivering a line of sleek, streamlined separates for Adidas back in 2004. A beautiful, covetable marriage of form and function, the collection flew out the door and suddenly you were nobody if your yoga pants lacked a limited edition label.
McCartney was lauded for achieving the seemingly impossible feat of making a silk sheath out of a sow's short's, but really the links between high fashion and exercise gear go way back.
Leisure pursuits have always provided designers with a rich seam of new ideas to mine. Coco Chanel demonstrated as much in 1929 when, holed up on the estate of her lover, the Duke of Westminster, she spent her summer holidays perfecting the drop-waisted simplicity of her tennis outfit. The result was the original tennis dress, the bastard spawn of which can be seen today adorning the useless frame of Paris Hilton on Rodeo Drive, accessorised with a kicky little tea-cup chihuahua.
The relationship between fashion and sportswear is set to be explored in a fascinating new exhibition opening this week at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Fashion V Sport looks at the points where contemporary fashion and global sportswear brands connect. It covers all aspects of the relationship between the two, from initial historical overlap to the design synergy so profitably pursued by the likes of McCartney and Adidas. Presented in this way it's easy to see the similarities between high fashion and high-performance sportswear; both are are built on aesthetics of exaggeration and vibrancy, designed specifically to inspire covetousness and possess cult appeal. Scratch the surface of your average trainer fanatic and you'll find a style aficionado every bit as discerning and obsessive as those fashion geeks who take pride in picking a Galliano hemline at 20 paces.
Of course, some sports lend themselves to a fashion interpretation more readily than others. In The Guardian recently, Fashion V Sport curator Ligaya Salazar offered her explanation for the links between fashion and certain sports: the snob factor.
"The sports which fashion draws on most - tennis, golf, equestrian - are the elite sports. Tennis is much more accessible now, but it is still linked to a certain class."
And designers haven't been slow to exploit this association; it's the reason why officials at Wimbleton make their calls in head-to-toe Ralph Lauren. Of course, Wimbledon has always had style appeal in spades. Players have dressed to get noticed since "Gorgeous" Gussie Moran thrilled courtside crowds with glimpses of her frilly knickers back in 1949. Major sportswear labels now exploit the free exposure offered by the world's most popular tournament to the extent that centre court has become an international catwalk; beaming their latest designs into millions of homes all over the planet, with the inbuilt endorsement of the tennis stars who wear them. For style-spotters, Wimbledon 2008 was in a league of its own. There were Maria Sharapova's tidy white shorts and controversial Nike tuxedo, bitched about by a fellow player who went on to trash her on court as well - ouch!
Polish cutie Urzula Radwanska won hearts and minds in a mini-tutu that was as on trend as it was sweetly girly. British high streets are currently awash with ballerina themes following a recent Givenchy show inspired by Swan Lake.
And then there are the Williams Sisters, Venus and Serena. These two have always marched to the beat of their own style drums, the result being a look that's often more gin and juice than strawberries and cream. This year was no different, both sisters upping the ante and injecting a shot of high-octane glamour to every one of their games. Venus triumphed in the final, but it was Serena who took out the prize for style, arriving for one of her matches in a thigh-skimming snow-white trench that screamed glamour and business in equal measure. And it wasn't just a chick thing either. It was the entertainingly disparate on-court style choices of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer that saw their historic showdown dubbed "the Preppy vs the Pirate".
Federer of course, has been a fashion darling for a while now, in a very literal sense. His on-court prowess has won him legions of fans, none more unlikely than the mighty Anna Wintour. The fashionista supreme scandalised the fashion pack a few seasons ago by wagging shows at Bryant Park so she could watch Fed play at Flushing Meadows when New York Fashion Week overlapped with the NY Open. He, in turn, accompanied her to the front row at Oscar De la Renta. With couture credentials such as this, is it any surprise that the limited edition, five-button herringbone cardy he sported throughout the tournament turned out to be the most sought-after Nike piece of the summer?
The sort of class consciousness is the epitome of the dynamic that Salazar sees at the heart of her Fashion V Sport exhibit. Of course it could be argued that this is a particularly British preoccupation, the rest of the world doesn't care how you made your money, or where you went to school.
Local labels like Nom*D and Kate Sylvester frequently incorporate sportswear into their collections, and the references are just as likely to be to skateboard style or soccer kits as polo shirts and croquet dresses. Fashion V Sport has the potential to be a powerful and important exhibition in the history of design. Its curator has already recognised the aspiration at the heart of the relationship between the two aesthetics; hopefully she understands the egalitarian freedom at the heart of sporting pursuits that makes putting them together with fashion so much fun.
