If, like me, you do the school run in your gym kit, then it’s time to switch things up and change to ski-wear.
You know something’s up when Sweaty Betty, one of the first stores to realise the revenue potential of gym-kit mums, puts skiwear in several of its 50-odd shop windows nationwide. Much fitness wear seldom makes it to the gym, and now chic skiwear — from colourful sweaters with après ski slogans to fine-knit polo-necks and bold leggings — is starting to filter into the everyday.
Topshop, Boden, ASOS and H&M all now stock skiwear, and we’re not talking bulky, yeti-style cover-ups. It’s all about sleek, chic and slim-fitting clothes, designed to be equally wearable off the slopes.
Designers are plundering all the decades for inspiration, especially the Sixties, and this year’s skiwear just got sexy. I love Perfect Moment’s checked jumpsuit, which looks like something Bond girl Diana Rigg might have worn in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. In the Seventies, flared salopettes, quilting, faux fur and bold, bright, graphic colours became popular. Topshop’s colour-block ski trousers and Asos’s high-waisted salopettes have just that vibe.
Move over Uggs and Asics, because Moon boots are also having a renaissance, with sales up 100 per cent and celebrities including Claudia Schiffer and Kylie Jenner donning the retro footwear. Meanwhile, Sorel offers the snow boot of choice for Elle Macpherson, Victoria Beckham and the Duchess of Cambridge, among others.
And, if you’re in any doubt as to the relevance of the skiwear trend, next time you’re out, count the number of puffer jackets you see. The streets are awash with them.
- Left: Sweater, £325, chintiand parker.com; Trousers, £540, perfectmoment.com; Boots, £135, sorelfootwear.co.uk; Goggles, £475, moncler.com. Second left: Cashmere tracksuit, £495, tabithawebb.co.uk; Sweater (over shoulders), £230, essentiel-antwerp.com; Boots, £80, moonboot.com. Third left: Ski suit, £1,070, perfect moment.com; Roll-neck, £109, falke.com; Goggles, £475, moncler.com; Boots, £231, and skis, £445, ellis-brigham.com. Third right: Jumper, £99, hush-uk.com; Leggings, £65, sweatybetty.com; Boots, £109, massimo dutti.com; Scarf, £175, dorothee-schumacher.com. Second right: Top and leggings, both £65, sweaty betty.com; Boots, £80, moonboot.com; Cashmere socks, £39.99, sockshop.co.uk; Hat, £95, Grevi at fenwick.co.uk; Ski poles, £22, ellis-brigham.com. Right: Coat, £319, baumund pferdgarten.com; Leggings, £59, falke.com; Boots, £135, sorelfootwear.co.uk
