A$AP Rocky Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop Wearing Track Suits
By Max Berlinger.
A$AP Rocky is basically the male Rihanna. His wardrobe lives at the cutting edge of the fashion space, he's not afraid to try out the craziest swerves out there—sometimes all in the same outfit—and he's got the Hulk-like levels of swagger it takes to be a menswear god in 2017.
That being said, it's no great surprise that the 28-year-old tastemaker has been wearing track pants for some time now in various ways—onstage with Gucci loafers and a going-out shirt, with an oversize jacket, a cross-body bag, and statement sneakers, and even to a really fancy restaurant. The man knows no boundaries.
Blame it on the rise of athleisure, or Drake's commitment to cozy-boy style, or designers figuring out they could charge $500 for sweatpants and people would buy them—lots of them—but the track suit is back.
A year ago, we were questioning whether track suits were even acceptable menswear to wear outside of the house (answer: yes, with some rules attached). Then celebrities as varied as Young Thug and Elton John co-signed the trend, and they started popping up everywhere, from retro reissues from big-name sports brands to four-figure versions from the likes of Brunello Cucinelli.
And the one man who can show you how to wear the nested cozy suit is none other than A$AP Rocky. In fact, the rapper has done it twice in the last two days. First, Rocky wore a pair of orange striped track pants after killing it in a relatively toned-down Calvin Klein look at Monday's Met Ball. He wore it with a white long-sleeve shirt, some artfully decorated Nikes (another trend), and a green hoodie that he's wearing half-on, half-off, which is also a thing now.
Then, last night, for the launch of Gucci's latest fragrance, Rocky once again wore a track suit, which included a pair of $2,800 leather pants, and the top part of the outfit he wore yesterday (PS the matching leather track jacket is a mere $4,200.) This is something that not even the most famous of men would have been able to get away with, but is now increasingly the norm. Tailored sweatpants and Casual Fridays and Silicon Valley's penchant for comfort over formality have all led the way to the Golden Age of Tracksuits, and while we're not complaining, necessarily, we also realize that A$AP has the sort of DGAF swagger that makes this work at A List events whereas you're probably better off wearing something just slightly more dignified to work. Weekends, though? Have at it. Even the Weeknd knows that off-duty style is ready made for a good track suit.
This story originally appeared on GQ.
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