It was bound to happen. As you know, fashion is constantly cycling and evolving. Athleisure, which in many ways became pandemic-wear, has now morphed into a more elegant version of itself called Athflow. Curious what the differences are? How it will affect you pandemic / work-from-home wardrobe? Keep reading!
Athflow is basically loungewear and athleisure but all grown up and ready for the next stage of its life. It's more sophisticated, put together, less pajama-cozy and more professional but not quite office-ready. So if you can imagine THAT, you can now step into some Athflow looks!
In the shots you see of me here, I'm wearing an Athflow set designed by my friend Kobi Halperin (available in black here, and in ivory here). My bandeau top with spaghetti straps (hard to see from the pic) is available HERE on Bodysuitsme.com. All the other looks I'm sharing below are from Zara. I wanted to reference a store that's accessible to everyone across the world, so Zara seemed like a good one.
How does Athflow affect your wardobe? The answer is less (or no) sweat pants and sweat shirts and more flowy and coordinated outfits. Remember how popular "sets" were from 2018-2019? Well, there's definitely a return to that, especially >>> monochromatic outfits! Or if that's too matchy for you, just keep it in the same color range.
You can still rock the oversized styles but not in the bag lady way that you were for the past year. The point of Athflow is to pull yourself together with more elegance. And this is something you can easily do with comfortable wide legged pants, flowy tops and blouses, loose dresses and jumpsuits, boyfriend blazers and boxy crops.
A piece of advice to keep your Athflow style flattering is to be sure to balance your proportions. Match someone flowy on the bottom with a slim fitting top. Or play around with a bandeau top, bralette and crop tops under a loose fitting coordinated set. The feeling should be easy-breezy but still have dimension to it.
Peasant styles and baby doll dresses are also trending as Athflow looks. The looser and more billowy the better! Pair them with comfortable sneakers, platform sandals or flats to adhere to that more casual vibe of this dress code.
Additionally, definitely explore cardigan sweaters of all cuts and lengths and even wraparound styles. You'll be seeing a lot of this in thin and pashmina-soft fabrics. Linen also qualifies!
For inspiration shopping your own closet to create Athflow looks, just think about an outfit that can go from a conference call, a trip to the mall or market (where you'd run into people you know) and then back home to the couch without skipping a beat. Pinterest defines Athflow as “professional enough for the “office,” stretchy enough for the yoga mat and comfy enough for the couch.” Quite simply, it's athleisure REFINED with modern silhouettes and dressier fabrics. My recommendation for immediately updating your current wardobe would be to replace sweat pants with tailored and embellished track pants, and ditch the leggings entirely for flowy wider leg bottoms with a cinched and wide waistline (always more flattering on petite girls!).
Have fun creating Athflow styles this Spring and Summer! As long as it's comfortable, you're doing it RIGHT!
Here's a short list to keep in mind when shopping!
- Loose dresses
- Jumpsuits
- Flowy pants
- Cardigans, vests and blazers
- Matching sets
- Soft, cozy fabrics
- Knits