A few months ago, while discussing the staying power of normcore, we stumbled across a few trends that made the style seem positively normal.
One of them was called health goth. How we laughed.
Summer came and went and we forgot all about it until last week, when H&M launched its Alexander Wang x H&M line and, while looking for the best way to describe the look (hi-sports-luxe? Goth-spo?), we suddenly realised that the health goth aesthetic was actually a thing.
On Wednesday Adidas Originals launched a new collaboration with designer Mary Katrantzou that seemed impractical for working out in, but fell squarely into the health goth remit.
You might not have heard of it (we hadn’t), and you might like to sit on the fence as to whether it’s actually a massive joke, so to help you decide whether it’s a trend, and how to wear it, we’ve broken the phenomenon down into bitesized bits of information:
- Health Goth is the name of a Facebook blog created by musicians Mike Grabarek and Jeremy Scott who, one day (possibly in 2013) uploaded a bunch of photos to their Facebook page that all fell under the umbrella of monochrome, futuristic sportswear. Or sortswear.
- Following in the wake of sports luxe, it blends fashion’s obsession with goth streetwear, monochrome and sportswear (think Hood by Air, Nike, Adidas, Nasir Mazhar and Wang’s H&M collection).
- Still struggling to visualise it? Think Kanye West in his studded Maison Martin Margiela full-face masks; Daniel Sturridge in Hood by Air or Chicago-based DJ Johnny Love, who has even launched his own line of health goth inspired T-shirts – which sort of parodies sportswear while being pretty affordable.
- It’s also an exercise movement which is all about toning your body in an emotional and melancholy way. This sounds as weird as it is, but also covers things such as eating properly and lifting light weights, much of which can be found on its website, healthgoth.com.
- According to Jaana Jatyri of trend forecaster Trendstop: “Health goth started out as an internet meme, but we’re now starting to see these stylistic influences filter through to trendsetters on the streets, especially in London.”
- Bill Gates apparently endorsed it on his Facebook page. So there you go.
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