Glamorous Outdoor Jungle

Text: Gerda

July 1st, 2021

While Tini is conquering the jungle, I am more of a mountaineer. Glam ballerinas and lianas? No prob for Tini. High heels and mountain glow? Tricky for me.

Our grandmothers might have tottered on the Zugspitze in high heels and with a hand bag, but I am rather into functional yet glamorous active wear – provided that’s possible?

Glamor and functionality?

I haven’t found a stylish biking helmet yet, so at least I would prefer some good looks on the mountain. Much to my refret, hiking lodges seldomly have spa areas, perhaps a glacial lake here and there. And I must leave the little black dress at home, because my backpack feels like weighing tons after a multi-day tour anyway. Therefore, I asked Tini, my second glamourjungle-half. She is a fashion designer and a sports fashion expert.

Tini, can you design outdoor sports fashion with a glam factor?

Tini: Absolutely. It all comes down to design and material quality – which can, of course, impact the price.

Old, dull, breathable red microfibre trekking jackets and playfully chequered shirts belong to the past. Yet, one must not ignore that there are still a lot of traditionalists wearing their outfits like a uniform. You recognize them by their knickerbockers, short-sleeve chequered shirt and the trekking parka wrapped around the hips.

 "Gorpcore" boom
The market for so-called “gorpcore” is florishing (acronym for  “good ol’ raisins and peanuts”) – and it started way before the pandemic.Business of Fashion (BOF), one of the major news platforms of the international fashion industry, wrote in February 2021, that Google search requests for corpcore-brands had risen 634 percent compared to the year before - and equally had social media accounts with the same topic. A turn of the trend was not in sight, according to BOF.

What are the challenges regarding functionality?

Tini: In fact, this isn’t a challenge anymore – it is simply a matter of price.

Highly functional sleek fabrics like breathable four-way stretch or merino wool mixed with technical threads – with features that excel cotton and that are easily washable – are more and more common. Functionality and top design no longer exclude each other. Some collections have already shown how it works.

Four-way stretch has excellent elasticity.
Merino wool has many benefits: it isloates well, has a soft touch, transports sweat, is anti-static, odor-friendly, light and almost crease-free.

Talking about brands or collections with stylish sports fashion, what are the cuts, details or colors that give the fabric a glam touch?

Tini:

New details are always interesting. For instance, galon stripes, which have become the epitome of sportivity. If you want to give them a glam touch, they now come with shiny lurex elements, are layered with tonal rhinestones or with a metallic gloss. The possibilties are endless!
Another option could be a taped-seam look, which has a reduced and modern appeal, and it has the technical feature of waterproof seams on top. You can highlight such a detail by adding small silver prints at the rim.

Special cuts

Cut details with a glam appeal are, for instance, super-high and over-sized collars that can be draped via drawstring. Cool over-cut sleeves work as well. A hood with nice details can also be an eye catcher. In fact, accessories like long and broad zippers and cool charms are great as well.
Women look more feminine with a higher waist, which also adds length to your legs. Now that’s glam, I’d say!

Colours

Understatement is the contempotary style in the high-quality segments: Non-colours like camel or stonegrey are popular – always in comination with a pop-up colour like lemon or orange for details – giving the look more freshness and sportivity. When it comes to colours, tonal combinations are en vogue, for instance cherry and bordeaux.

At times you also see this look in the same tone, but in a matt lustre material mix. You can really go wild in combining here. In addition, metallics are still relevant. At present, there are super-light summer down jackets, compact enough to fit into the backpack, in copper or gold. So let it shine!

Illustration: Christine Dahlmanns

Photo: Gerda Friedel (2020)