Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Activewear

June 6 – Dec 30, 2021
Gasthuisstraat 11, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium

Adidas by Stella McCartney! Reebok by Maison Margiela! Nike by Louis Vuitton! The distinction between what you wear to dinner and what you wear to the gym continues to shrink. Curated by two former Belgian Olympians—the sprinters Élodie Ouédraogo and Olivia Borlée—this exhibition looks at the connection between sports and fashion in Europe since the 1850s (there are pieces by Chanel, Gucci, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dior Couture, Virgil Abloh, and many more). Athleisure, for example, existed long before Lululemon: on display are its 1920s pleated tennis dresses, which women increasingly wore off the court. The exhibition also spotlights the less obvious influence of sports on high fashion (think fabrics, patterns, ease of movement). The Olympians didn’t just curate the exhibit, they also appear in it. The sprinters star in a new digital artwork made for the show, Second Skin, A Virtual Trophy, created by former Nike and Hypebeast collaborator Frederik Heyman. —J.D.

Raf Simons x Adidas, 2014 © Modemuseum Hasselt/ Kristof Vrancken.