The last time I wore a tracksuit top – vintage navy blue with the classic zip-up funnel-neck finish – was circa the mid-90s. Flashback: I’m in a pub in my small home town, leaning (probably a bit drunkenly) against a jukebox, with floppy hair, possibly wearing some friendship bracelets. Enter three older, tougher-looking men who stop, survey me and simultaneously chorus above the pub din: “Parklife.”
I didn’t know how to take it. On the one hand, a comparison to Blur’s Damon Albarn was no bad thing to someone obsessed with Britpop. On the other, there was something a trifle unsettling about the fact that they thought my top was completely hilarious. I kept wearing it, though. On a recent trip to my local vintage shop to score a new/old one, I was duly transported back to that moment.
Obviously, my reason for hunting a track top down again is because we’re on the verge of a big comeback. Last June, at the end of the Lanvin spring/summer 2016 show, I spied a model wearing one similar to that dear old Parklife one of yore. And I logged it. I definitely had zips on the brain. Tracksuits had appeared on various catwalks, from Astrid Andersen to Gucci. But it’s the top that looks set to springboard from fashion circles to real life, and the evidence is coming at you in all manner of directions.
Blur and Oasis, clearly champions of this item of clothing during the 90s (fashion’s favourite decade right now), gave the tracksuit top lad swagger and a rebellious spirit. Renton in Trainspotting contemplates life over a pint in a pub wearing a classic navy Adidas one from the same period. Such youthful scuzzy-energy taps into current chatter around grunge, also back on the style frontline, partly following the success of Hedi Slimane’s Saint Laurent reboot.
The last time the retro tracksuit had any significant cultural airtime was in 2001 when Ben Stiller’s character and his sons wore classic red Adidas versions in Wes Anderson’s classic The Royal Tenenbaums. This film has always been moodboard porn for its quirky retro-ness, though has perhaps been viewed as a tad too geeky for the full tracksuit revival. Note: the retro geeky look is back at Gucci.
At Parisian label AMI I spotted – tucked into suit trousers or tied around waists – red or navy tracksuit tops that had a whiff of that classic Adidas look about them. Meanwhile Valentino’s catwalk featured an excellent zip-up tracksuit in Anderson-friendly brown with a contrast navy stripe running down the arms and legs.
The hype around Russian designer Gosha Rubchinskiy and his 80s Soviet-era vibes has produced catwalk track tops with cult status. His youthful spirit has inspired fashion shoots left, right and centre, while it has also been noted that his look shares something with the wardrobe of Moritz Stamm, the lead character in Channel 4’s excellent import drama Deutschland 83.
But putting the 90s, the geeky and the Soviet Russian vibes to one side for a sec, track tops are also the latest in a long line of sportswear-oriented revivals, particularly in menswear. Sneakers have been one of the biggest stories for several years, while posh track pants and printed sweatshirts (see Givenchy) have become cult hits. Why? Men’s wardrobes are continuing to loosen up. Shirts and ties are being ditched for less stiff-upper-lip layers.
Almost half the current spring/summer Prada show featured some kind of riff on the zip-up. The second men’s look in this show featured a top in thick bands of white, red and black with a turtle-style neckline with a silver zip pull, layered under a blousy shirt and a jacket – it had a bit of the cycling top about it. The notable thing was the idea of using the zip top not as just an outer layer, as per its 90s incarnation, but as something that could be worn underneath anything.
Even better news: designers have decreed the tracksuit top has legs for next season, too. Grace Wales Bonner showed 70s-style versions with crystal zip pulls. And at Burberry track tops were the hero piece – 29 of 55 looks featured them. They were either worn on their own (including a sequin version), with the zip done up to the chin just so, or layered under an oversize, swingy coat. Newsflash: the track top is set to be to autumn/winter 2016 what the roll neck was to 2015: the ultimate base layer. It’s a look that anyone who’s anyone should get into right now. Go!
Simon Chilvers is men’s style director of matchesfashion.com.
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