From Catwalk to Kickoff: Fashion's Fusion with Sport

Take a look around UGA’s campus; what do you see? If I had to guess, it’s either a girl decked out in Lulu or a guy in Onward Reserve. The college student population and really the entire population’s everyday wear is gradually being overtaken by one genre of clothing: athleisure. Although this is the norm now, it wasn’t always this way. So how did we get here, and what does this mean for both the fashion industry and the sports industry?

Culture shifts are often most evident in the mundane and the everyday, and a prime example of this is the window into culture shifts that is given to us by fashion.

An old teacher of mine once pointed out how endearing it is that every individual goes into their closet in the mornings and intentionally picks out their outfit, so by simply looking at what someone is wearing, so much can be learned about who they are and what they are like. Seeing what someone wears on a day-to-day basis allows us to connect with each other more deeply and get to know each other better.

While fashion choices give us insight into who the individual is, it also allows us to observe patterns in culture and communities. For example, the 1920s’ fashion style was characterized by flapper dresses: sleeveless dresses with dropped waists, embellished with tassels and beads and paired with long pearls and extravagant feathers. This staple of the Roaring Twenties gives insight into what the culture was like at the time: bold, exuberant, flamboyant, rebellious. In a similar way, we today can look at what those in our culture wear, and it will most likely reflect aspects of the culture and community itself. College students at UGA wear athletic skirts and dresses, racerback tanks, athletic sets, Gym Shark and Lululemon shorts, etc. So what does this say about our culture and community? We are urban, dynamic, fast-paced, trendy, functional, fluent. By observing even at surface level what demographics are wearing, it is immediately evident what their lifestyles are like, the environment they are in, and what they prioritize.

Now that I’ve established this angle that fashion allows into societal trends, let’s talk about this in the context of our campus. A theme that is almost as present at UGA’s campus as the very clothing that people wear is the theme of sports. As we all know, UGA is a very sports-driven school (GO DAWGS!!!), and thus the industry is woven into every aspect of daily life. Whether it’s the plethora of jerseys worn by boys and girls alike, the graphic tees with Gunner Stockton’s face on them, or Beat Bama merch of all shapes and sizes, sports are everywhere, on everything, and seen by everyone.

Even outside of a sports-centric community like UGA, sports make their way into every nook and cranny of regular day-to-day settings. Whether it’s a famous baseball player’s appearance in a Capital One commercial, an NBA player’s appearance on the side of a Cheez-Its box, or the countless jerseys and graphic tees worn by people of all ages around the globe, sport themes appear in every broader theme: politics, history, science, economics, education, entertainment, and the list goes on.

So, from a logical standpoint, if sports are present in all culture, and fashion reflects all culture, these two major parts of daily life must come to a crossroads at some point.

SPOILER ALERT:

This is where SMA’s Fall ’25 Theme comes into play! For this year’s theme we chose to tell a story through artistic expression: how modern society’s current sports-craze and timeless fashion captivation intersect to form one image, one message, and one movement.

By: Raegan Miley