With an increasingly haute couture feel, the sweatshirt is quickly climbing the list of most coveted pieces this winter.
At its core, the sweatshirt is the essential starting point for any streetwear ensemble: athletically draped over sporty shoulders, it soaks up all that pesky sweat that comes with a long run in Central Park. And like many a jogger, the sweatshirt is also known to go off the beaten path: graffiti artists have brought the piece to the forefront of the “underground” scene. Usually worn oversized, the sweatshirt is known to accompany street artists on their nocturnal outings.
Luxury brands are taking the sweatshirt by storm: Balenciaga, Kenzo and its neoprene sweatshirt have already been adopted by Rihanna along with droves of fashionistas. Easy to make… a little less easy to wear! The finishings are getting compressed, the cut is getting larger as the overall shape gets rounder: the sweatshirt is uniting two different universes just for the cold season. Its heritage is hard as rock, underground, and masculine, but this time around the finishing touches have been feminized with a little help from the couture world.
Without betraying its origins, the sweatshirt is becoming more multifaceted: retro-futuristic at the hand of Balenciaga, incorporating images of John Galliano at the designer’s namesake fashion house, owl-printed at Burberry… the award for most rustic creation, however, goes to the romantically tinged Dries Van Noten take on the garment, where embroidered flowers are added as if to bring the pieces’ two parallel dimensions together in harmony. In any case, the sweatshirt is decidedly THE piece to pair with a mini skirt. Flawless!
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