funny how everyone's interpretation is different.
GENERAL TOPIC: Thank god we all agree on what
haute couture is.
Let's remember anyway that the beginnings were not about Geishas and Egyptians like the ones galliano shows. Couture was for the women who wanted the best clothing available. Just like men who dress in nothing but tailored clothing. Nothing but couture therefor means that couturiers would do besides the very famous gowns,
everydaywear (exactly what other people could call
streetwear or
SPORTSwear)
At this point there was couture, and the rest of clothing lines (not including affordable
mass market) that may not deserve a specific name at that moment.
With that said, from my point of view the word
sportswear has evolved radically through decades, acquiring new connotations that had to do not so much with the
use of the clothing, but with it's
quality.
Couture still was (and will always be) couture, and pretty much the rest (those clothing lines) were called
ready-to-wear.
Again new changes were introduced, the market evolved and ready-to-wear changed by growing a lot. Ready-to-wear was very general word that includes
eveningwear and d
aywear/everyday/street/sports (all the same). So yet to be more accurate as the market is getting big and one word is not enough,
daywear, as the part of ready-to-wear becomes nowadays
casualwear
ON TOPIC: The first thing i thought of when i saw this tittle is of lines or labels like Chanel sports, or Moncler Gamme Rouge. both of them claim to do the most luxurious clothing for ski and
apres-skiwear, golf, horseback riding…
a higher level than regular
activewear used for all other sports.
Just to finish, notice how the meaning turns to use again (SPORTS) but with a worldwide quality reference (COUTURE)
Lots of names and lots of slightly different connotations that depend on the moment in history of fashion, and what we are considering (all the market, part of it, quality, use of the garment…)
In conclusion of this
hot mess of boldwears, this is how i would divide the different lines nowadays
Couture (only certain labels can use this name as the CSCP stablishes)
Ready to wear
-Eveningwear
-Casualwear
-Sportswear (including sports couture for the highest level labels)
Mass market (the big affordable companies)
Activewear (technological, specific for sports, only functionality and best performance is required)
moncler
moncler
chanel
images of example from harpersbazaar, fashionblog.it, modeblog.com
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