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Writer's picture: 𝓐𝓚𝓐𝓚

Updated: Dec 28, 2020

You may be able to guess from the title, but the word 'tracksuit' gets me a little bit excited! The definition of 'tracksuit' describes, "a loose, warm set of clothes consisting of a sweatshirt and trousers with an elasticated or drawstring waist, worn when exercising or as casual wear." To me however, it means much more.



A tracksuit to me is a part of my identity, although it hasn't always been. I wore my first real tracksuit (left) in 2018 to Splendour in the grass, a festival in Byron Bay, Australia. At the time I wanted to stand out, so decided to design a tracksuit I could wear. I picked a pattern, fabric, and commissioned someone to make it for me. When I did this, my intentions were to just wear something cool to a festival, and I had no idea how that would change my style going forward.


After that day, I would wear that tracksuit to the shopping centre, out for meals, to the cinema, or just to run errands. It was my personality to stand out, and I started to notice the stares, looks of confusion sprawling across people's faces as they struggled to comprehend why a giant ball of cotton candy was walking past them in the grocery store. I started to think deeply about why people feel the need to fit in, and how they seemed to judge me for going against the grain, and I started to thrive.



It was at this time I decided to get some more tracksuits. I still didn't know how this would start to snowball, but I thought they were cool and they made me stand out in a coastal city where people wear ripped denim shorts, a crop top and thongs (jandals or flip flops for those of you who might misunderstand my slang) as the standard of fashion. I most definitely struggled with the heat in this regard, as living in Queensland is not exactly somewhere you would usually be seen in a tracksuit, but as I love to say, "style over comfort."



Since then, I've become more and more comfortable expressing myself for who I am and who I want to be. I genuinely feel more comfortable going out in a full neon patterned tracksuit or coordinated baggy outfit rather than some blue skinny jeans and a white tee. When I wear this sort of outfit (not to rain on anyones parade but what I would say is 'basic'), I feel an uncomfortable sense of hiding who I am. I feel as though if I walked through a crowd I would blend in with everyone else there and lose my identity, and this for me is a nightmare.



I have now 14 tracksuits here with me in London, and around 6 or 7 back home in the Gold Coast of Australia, and I have no plans of stopping here. They give me a sense of identity, a sense of standing out and going against the grain, a sense of never blending in. You can get a simple adidas tracksuit that could be considered basic, but style it with a chain and some chunky sneakers with a puffer vest, and you've got a look. Or on the other hand, you can get tracksuits you would never even imagine to be designed, and they solely make a look.


What I can now call a collection (with over 20 scattered across the globe I think I've earned the right to call it this), containing brands like Adidas, Jaded London, and Ellesse to name a few, my tracksuits are a part of me. They've played a big role in my style development, and my inspiration as a designer to ensure I stand out from the sea of normality. I wouldn't be the person I am today without them (corny, I know). And as much as I'd like to say I have acquired enough, I definitely know I'm only scratching the surface.


See my "full tracksuit collection" on youtube now https://youtu.be/bwpjJ9J4aK0 (missing 3 that I've ordered in the month since then.... oops).


xx


AKA


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Writer's picture: 𝓐𝓚𝓐𝓚

Updated: Dec 21, 2020

For as long as I can remember, I've loved being different. I love loud colours, and going against the grain. My youngest memory of discovering my style was dressing in boys board shorts on holidays with my family, when my girlfriends would be in frilly bikinis. As a young girl, I'm not sure where this desire came from, but it's what I loved at the time, and I was lucky enough to have a family that didn't care what I wore as long as I was happy. Wearing boys board shorts escalated to an obsession with fedora hats, and skull patterned everything. I would collect fedoras, and had one to match every single outfit imaginable. Around this point in time is when I discovered rumours and gossip, and developed a strong desire to fit in, or else be talked about. I started to wear what everyone else wore, started wearing makeup, started wanting to talk to boys. I fell into the trap of trying to be like everyone else, so that I didn't stand out as a target. As I grew older, this style evolved into low cut tops and outfits showing more skin than necessary. I always loved attention, but at this point of my style I hadn't figured out what kind of attention I was searching for yet. Eventually I got sick of this in high school, and although I was still trying to fit in the social sphere of things, I discovered op shopping. At the time this was something a lot of people did, and was (still is) a popular style of dressing. I still try to incorporate second hand and op shopped pieces to this day, however I style them very differently to how I did back then. When I discovered streetwear about a year ago, no one around me dressed in anything similar to what I was seeing and loving as a new style. Growing up on the Gold Coast in Australia, there is a very specific style of clothing everyone around me wore, and for a few years there, I did too. Once I discovered that the attention I was seeking from my outfits was more about coordination, loud colours and always mixing my outfits up, I really started loving my style and feeling more confident in myself. Nowadays, I feel more confident strutting around in a fully coordinated tracksuit with brightly coloured hair and chains around my neck than I do in a white tee & a pair of blue jeans. I definitely don't think I'm anywhere near discovering my true style yet, but I'm on my way and loving every minute of it.



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