Help! Iβm sick of wearing black T-shirts to the gym.
Princess Diana, pictured near a London health club in 1995, in a sweatshirt she wore repeatedly to the gym.Credit: WireImage
Getting to the gym is a struggle, even before youβre greeted by the sight of sweaty hordes dressed as villains from a sci-fi movie and the pungent smell of protein-shake residue. Did you know thereβs a gym in New York where itβs compulsory to dress in Darth Vaderβs go-to colour? Management says the black dress code creates a spirit of inclusivity, but itβs really the laziest exercise in creativity. Inclusivity shouldnβt be about suppressing your ability to express your individuality through a banal uniform: itβs about enabling your true self to shine in a graffiti-print leotard or periwinkle sports bra to a backing track of thumping, 2000s-era dance music.
There was a time when gyms were colourful temples to peppy aerobics classes, where the fitness-inclined felt inspired to look like Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta in Perfect or Jane Fonda (remember those workout vids?). Even Princess Diana had her manicured finger on the racing pulse of activewear, wearing colourful attire for her London workouts. She regularly wore a sweatshirt gifted to her by entrepreneur Richard Branson promoting Virgin Atlantic to try to put off paparazzi, whoβd make less money from repeated shots of her in the same old top. In 2023, Virgin Atlantic released an updated version of it, the original having sold at auction in 2019 for about $US53,500.
Recently, the former Princess of Walesβ kaleidoscopic approach to Lycra has returned to the mood-boards of stylists and fashion-followers everywhere. Clearly, itβs time to give your fashion muscles a right royal workout.
Got a style conundrum? Email damien.woolnough@nine.com.au
To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.