FASHION FORWARD FITNESS

Let's face it, its not always easy to make working out a top priority. However, you are much more likely to arrive at the studio or hit the pavement hard when you wear a fashion forward outfit designed for performance.
Fitness attire  is a quickly growing segment of the fashion world. The days of baggy sweatpants and your husband's XXXL t-shirt at the gym are long gone. We live in a time when performance and fashion need to be one.

In Atlanta, we are lucky to  have DEKA, the "mini Barneys for fitness fashion", says wellandgood.com. In fact, DEKA was so successfully transforming workout and post workout wear for casual, yet sophisticated, Atlanta ladies on the run, Jim Whitlow, the brains and owner behind DEKA, has opened two more successfully stores. One in Chicago - 900 North Michigan Ave, (3rd floor) and another in New York City- 5 Mercer St. Soho. Word on the street is, a fourth location may open in the Los Angeles area.

Considering Jim's qualifications, I am not sure he could do wrong. When you leave your job of 16 years as manager of Jeffery Atlanta, you have a lot of well earned experience. Walk into DEKA and you immediately get the sense of Jim's love of fitness and fashion. Whether I am at Blast on the treadmill, or Flywheel on the bike, I am likely to have Jim as a classmate.

Jim and I talked about some of his best sellers so far this spring. He said the Splits 59 Floral Mesh Tights are a big seller. The mesh is great for letting air flow through, and if you have been to any gym or studio recently, you know the wilder the tights and capris, the better.

Lucas Hugh, a designer from London, has a high end selection of workout wear for the woman that is not willing to compromise style for performance. She has been so popular and functional, that she was asked to design clothing for the Hunger Games Franchise.

Lucas Hugh

 

 

  Stella McCartney has been a rising star in fashion forward fitness, since the day she started designing for Addidas.

 

 

 

 The best sellers from Addidas by Stella McCartney at DEKA have been the floral jackets:

STUDIO FLORAL JACKET $250

RUN JACKET $200

 

 

RUN FLORAL PRINT JACKET: $260

 

In case you are wondering my favorite pieces by Stella this spring are,

 

MARBLE TANK

LOW WAIST HOODIE

(All images courtesy of Stella McCartney)

 

 

And finally, Jim says the Golden Goose High Tops are very exclusive and have been a great seller.

Golden Goose is fashion forward, British designed pieces. Hillary Duff likes to pair her camo high tops with her Goyard.

(photos courtesy of becauseiamfamous.com)

 

I realize many readers don't live in Atlanta, Chicago, or New York, so next time on Undercover 411, I will tell you about my favorite workout apparel and favorite online shopping site for workout wear.. Stay tuned... to be continued.