Images of the second NikeLab x Sacai collaboration debuted yesterday. All the things you loved about the first collection are back: the layering, the frilly silhouettes, the open pleats, the overall head-tilt-inducing designs we love so much about Chitose Abe. And with the summer collection comes one of biggest anomalies of gym gear: the workout skirt.
Just as with the RTW offerings, pleated skirts were a main fixture of the Sacai collaboration line. The first time out, the plaits were fixed to the back of skirts, allowing them to swoosh open with every move you make. Now with the summer collection, the skirts are more streamlined. They feature layers of pleated mesh fabric with a heavier, windbreaker-like skirt buttoned over. Definitely cool — as is every other piece in the collection — but far from what we perceived as practical gym gear.
Sure, running skirts are a thing, and skirts in tennis are as commonplace as spandex in yoga. But it seems hard to imagine how one might comfortably blast through a burpie series or try a headstand in one. There's the restriction of movement, extra-loose fabric, not much coverage for when your roundhouse kick gets height — really, all the things we avoid as far as gym clothes go. And yet, the summer offerings from NikeLab x Sacai make us want to at least attempt it.
Maybe this could be the moment when we finally change our minds about cycling, sprinting, weightlifting in a frilly hem. After all, other athletic brands we love like Sweaty Betty and Stella McCartney for adidas have been on that bandwagon for a while. Maybe we just needed a pleated-skirt favorite from the runway to finally convince us to really take it for a spin. Maybe.
The new NikeLab x Sacai summer designs will be available June 11.