Making a Case for the Matching Tracksuit
"Unlike the ambiguous athleisure trend, everyone knows that the velour tracksuit is for pure, unadulterated comfort."
Break out your flip phones and hair crimpers; the 2000s are making a comeback! Chokers, mom jeans – even the Backstreet Boys are making new music (for better or worse). And with this glorious era comes the infamous, but perpetually misunderstood, matching velour tracksuit. You know, the go-to athleisure attire before athleisure was a thing?
Perfected by Juicy Couture and seen in classic movies like Bring It On, Mean Girls and Scooby Doo (am I the only one who bought a fuchsia tracksuit like Daphne’s?), the tracksuit is an icon of subcultural style. Plenty of celebrities, most notably Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and don’t forget Paris’s then lesser-known friend, Kim, all sported their fair share of tracksuits. And who’s to blame them? My experiences with tracksuits (restricted to my middle school days), have been nothing but comfort, practicality and confidence. Tracksuits can be colorful or subtle, and the matching sets take away the complications of coordinating colors and different pieces.
Tracksuits also take away the pretension with which workout wear often comes. Sure, they may have been the uniforms of 20-something heiresses, but they’re honest in the way that there’s no question whether or not the wearer is on their way to the gym. Unlike the ambiguous athleisure trend, everyone knows that the velour tracksuit is for pure, unadulterated comfort, an honesty that is refreshing in the increasingly manipulative world of social media.
On the flip side, since the tracksuit’s prime was well before iPhones, just imagine how great they would look together now, perhaps with a venti iced green tea or a Chihuahua in the other hand. Talk about Instagram aesthetic! Of course, tracksuits aren’t the most stylish outfits, and there is always the opportunity for trends to be cheapened by those who don’t respect the fragile fashion system. But comfort is timeless, right? If not for everyone in the world, I at least would advocate for college students (aka connoisseurs of comfort) to embrace the velour tracksuit. And with the growing acceptance of athleisure, why NOT give the matching tracksuit a second chance?
