Do the D.A.N.C.E

I am currently saving up money for NYC by teaching dance (hip-hop & jazz) in Bangkok. Since I have been doing this for about 4 years now I am sick and tired of wearing sweat pants and tank tops everyday to work. So over the years I have been getting more interested in sports fashion and trying to find different ways to look fashionable while at the same time being able to dance in the clothes comfortably.

Nowadays sports brands are much more aware of and affected by fashion and trends, which has led them to not only offer more stylish pieces but also to collaborate with designers (Puma w/McQueen, Adidas w/Stella McCartney and Yamamoto, Nike w/Comme des Garcons). I would love to be able to afford Adidas by Stella McCartney (shown above), and I really love how she creates unique runway shows for this line with trampolines, treadmills, and often real athletes.

Above is the result of my searching through all the sports and dance wear brands to find fashionable and interesting pieces. Looking through all their clothes the influence that the brands take from current trends was very apparent. Nike actually has their own dance line which I love and I was actually lucky enough to receive a free pair of those white Nike dance shoes shown below (except mine have a gold swoosh!). I love them because they look like normal shoes, much unlike my old black clunky dance shoes, and yet they are very functional and comfortable to dance in. Nike dance wear offers a lot of basics that I just passed right by, but their colorful and patterned pieces drew me in. I like the pink and black hoodie and the black and white 'urban' leggings, the colors and patterns are very M.I.A. One dance brand I found, called Balera(shown inset on the right hand side), had some intriguing options that had similarities to the Fall 2009's runway including Preen's sheer geometric cutouts and Alexander Wang's slashed dress. Another vital trend that has been picked up by the sports wear industry is eco-conscious fashion. Adidas SLVR is a new line launched in February that uses sustainable materials like organic cotton and soybean fabric. They also try to reduce the amount of material they use, for example the 'zero waste tee' is made with only one piece of fabric that is cut and sewn with just one seam.

It is also going the other way around with sports wear inspiring the clothes we see on the runway. My favorite example of this is Alexander Wang who made sweat pants so sexy and chic (see above). I only wear my sweat pants to dance class or to bed, but Mr. Wang is making me rethink all this. His grey and black cropped, slouchy sweat pants look so good with his heels and loose tops. This is how I want to look at work, effortlessly cool, except I dunno if I could dance in those heels!

(*Click pictures to enlarge-runway pictures from Style.com, sports wear pictures from Nike.com, Adidas.com, & Dancewearsolutions.com)