Rugby shirts key to athleisure's preppy makeover

Athleisure is fashion, not serious fitness wear: nobody is running a marathon in the pictured shoes, and the word itself shrinks athletics to three letters. The only personal best that matters here is achieving an optimal Saturday morning, and the category moves with the times as much as it moves with you.

Not long ago the scene was ruled by tight legging sets and dazzling graphics—the imperial age of Lycra, where compression fit and matching sports bras felt lingerie-like and were designed to be watched in a mirror. Those pieces still work for class or the treadmill, but as a coffee-shop style they now look dated; in their place something looser and more nostalgic has emerged.

Today’s athleisure leans toward the bracing, outdoorsy world of organised sport: rugby tops, roomy tracksuit bottoms, windbreakers and fleeces that suggest teams, institutions and muddy sidelines.

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