When fashion designers, as they often do, cite the strength of women as inspiration for the clothes they make, they tend to have in mind their customers’ emotional resilience rather than their bench-pressing prowess. But on the runway at New York-based Collina Strada’s fall show last month, one model — dressed in a woven sleeveless top and lace athletic shorts — proudly flexed his arms, and another, wearing a set of floral shorts. , did bicep curls with dumbbells made with kabocha squash (a reference to a photo of a woman in Nepal lifting weights with gourds, explained the series’ creative director, Hillary Taymour, 36). Combining traditionally feminine motifs like embellishments and florals with gym nods, the collection seems to poke fun at the idea that femininity and strength could ever be seen as opposing forces. Underscoring the point, a third model effortlessly carried her baby up and down the runway with one arm.
Taymour is not alone this year in highlighting women’s physical strength as a source of strength. Love Lies Bleeding, released earlier this month, stars Kristen Stewart as a reclusive gym manager who falls in love and commits a revenge crime with a female bodybuilder. Rita Bullwinkel’s new novel Headshot follows the lives of eight teenage girls who each find a sense of agency through their careers as competitive boxers. But this celebration of the female brain is especially notable in the fashion world, which has long prized waifish bodies over athletic ones. ONE recent advertisement For British designer Stella McCartney’s Adidas sportswear line, she shows model and CrossFit Games athlete Reegan Finkel – whose muscular physique contrasts with the leaner bodies of previous campaigns – lifting weights in a sparkly purple leotard. New York-based designer Emily Dawn Long presented a pair of boxer briefs with the logo of boxing brand Everlast in her fall collection – a contrast to the arcane metal chastity belts of the past. And as part of its offering, the avant-garde New York-based clothing project Women’s History Museum featured high heels adorned with leather boxing gloves. For her collection, Taymour and her team consulted “ethically trained bodybuilder types,” she says, in order to accurately embody a spirit of physical strength in the clothes.
These collections aren’t entirely without precedent: In 2017, fashion photographer Steven Klein shot female bodybuilder Joelle Lombardi for Interview magazine; in 2021, as part of it spring couture collection for French house Schiaparelli, designer Daniel Roseberry presented sculptural dresses that suggested bulging abs and deltoids. But the ubiquity of the focus on physical strength is new. New York-based costume and fashion historian Shelby Ivey Christie, 32, credits this, in part, to a broader cultural shift, she says, as “the definition of what is beautiful and what is feminine broadens to include more athletic body types”. She points to recent fashion magazine covers featuring professional athletes such as tennis player Coco Gauff and gymnast Simone Biles. But as much as these recent displays of muscle on the runways are a statement of inclusion and strength, they can also be seen as a form of defense. “We’re in discussions about overturning Roe v. Wade, United States v. Rahimi,” Christie says, referring to legal battles over abortion rights and the government’s ability to disarm people subject to domestic abuse restraining orders . “There are a lot of concerns,” she continues, “with women’s safety and bodies.”
Those concerns were front of mind this season for Brooklyn-based designer Willy Chavarria, 56, whose collection was comes with a movie which showed models like Paloma Elsesser and Dilone in various common areas, including a home gym, where cast members can be seen bench pressing. “The whole story is about the need to protect ourselves from harm, but also, more importantly, the need to keep each other safe,” says Chavarria. While the more traditional garments associated with women, dresses and skirts, tend to either cling to the body or hang loosely from the body, Chavarria invoked the more structured forms of menswear in his collection, presenting angular jackets and roomy yet tailored sportswear – clothes designed, he says, to provide protection and add bulk. “There’s a territorial aspect to a lot of my work, particularly when it comes to volume,” he says. “Reclaiming that presence in the world is very important, especially for people on the margins.” And, of course, there’s no more literal way to take up space and hold ground than your body — the stronger the better.