I Tried the Athleisure Trend No One Seems to Agree About

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(Image credit: AKM-GSI)

Kim Kardashian West (and her army of clones) have recently been parading around Instagram in a series of staged paparazzi-style photos wearing pieces from Wholesale Replica Bag Yeezy Season 6 drop. The whole thing was pretty genius, if you ask me. While previous Yeezy collections were debuted in shows at New York Fashion Week, they were often met with criticism spurred by late start times and fainting models. But removing Yeezy from NYFW and instead showing the collection in context on Kim Kardashian West herself proved to be a much more compelling way to see Kanye West’s vision.

The collection is comprised of easy athleisure pieces—hoodies, sports bras, leggings, and sweatpants in muted grays and browns. But in my opinion, the most notable item are the bike shorts. An interesting micro-trend, Kim KW has been making a strong case for them, but she's not the only one. Bike shorts have also been spotted on the recent runways including Chanel, Saint Laurent, and Off-White.

We haven’t exactly seen bike shorts explode on the street style scene, though. Few have followed suit yet, but among those on board are celebs like Bella Hadid and Hailey Baldwin. Australian stylist Christine Centenera has also been spotted in them, which comes as little surprise since she’s Kardashian’s hired style advisor.

But now that we’ve seen Kardashian West making such a strong endorsement of them, will they actually become popular? Well, for starters, the gray bike shorts are already sold out on Yeezy Supply, so it appears that Kim may have another army of clones who will be posting their lookalike outfits soon.

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But whether or not the trend does take off, I was personally interested in trying it out. Leggings have occupied a sizable portion of my athleisure wardrobe for years, and I rarely go outside the formula of a coordinating crop top and high-waisted legging combo, so it was time for something new. Kardashian was part of the inspiration, as were some references from the ’90s (which is great since I’m on a ’90s kick right now).

There’s Cher in Clueless—remember that tennis court scene—and a 1999 Tim Walker editorial from Vogue Italia titled “Don’t Shoot”—interestingly, also a staged paparazzi-style shot (I’ve actually been wondering if this inspired the Yeezy shoot). And even Princess Diana, whose style helped inspire the bike shorts seen on the runway at Off-White’s spring 2018 show. With this ’90s inspiration in my arsenal, my approach to styling them included a simple sweatshirt, sneakers, and a baseball hat.

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Associate Director, Special Projects

Kristen Nichols is the Associate Director, Special Projects atBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing with over a decade of experience in fashion, editorial, and publishing. She oversees luxury content and wedding features, and covers fashion within the luxury market, runway reporting, shopping features, trends, and interviews with leading industry experts. She also contributes to podcast recordings, social media, and branded content initiatives. Kristen has worked with brands including Prada, Chanel, MyTheresa, and Luisa Via Roma, and rising designers such as Refine and Tove, and her style has been featured in publications including Vogue.com, Vogue France, WWD, and the CFDA. BeforeBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing , Kristen began her career at Rodarte, where she worked on assistant styling, photo shoots, and runway shows, and at Allure, where she moved into print and digital editorial. She graduated from the University of Southern California, where she studied art history and business, and currently lives in New York.