4 Tips to Looking Hot At The Gym

Uh yeah, there’s nothing more mortifying than working on your beach bod and seeing gorgeous specimen #278 pass by and the last thing you want to do is say hi because well, you’re a working out heap of hot mess. So not pretty. But you can overcome this by picking up on this season’s hottest workout trends, that not only keep you looking cool, but acting cool in a way that screams “hot” for when #279 passes your way. How to do it? First you want to toss out anything that resembles “slouchy”, and then pick up these top 5 workout trends for 2010.

1. The One Shoulder Look is not just for the red carpet anymore. Yep, you see this on almost every pretty dress these days, and now we find it in workout wear thanks to designers like Stella McCartney and Alexander Wang. The One Shouldered trend in sports bra and sportswear you may not find the most supportive, but layer it under equally cute pieces and your pretty shoulder will definitely turn heads.

2. Sheer mesh is back. And we aren’t talking Cindy Lauper style. Today’s hottest workout wear for women is sheer mesh that is sporty, breathable, and almost dangerous when it comes to sex appeal. Do you need more info than that?

3. Two Words – Hot. Pants. Okay, you’ve put in enough hours at the gym for these to finally work on you, and you love how cute they make you look but wouldn’t dream of stepping on the street with them without nervously wondering if people might mistake you as “For Hire”. Enough said on that note, they are more than appropriate at the gym, will ensure you keep cool, and look hot while you do so. You’ve earned it, hot pants it is.

4. Luxe Sun Visors. These are very reminiscent of retro golf days, but they don’t have to mean so much when you are working out. Rule #1 with the sun visor – wearing indoors is so not cool. Rule #2 – stick to colors that don’t match shag carpeting. Go cute here with pinks, limes, and fluorescent type colors that are IN and don’t look like something that came out of your dad’s old retro boxes in the attic.

Uh yeah, there’s nothing more mortifying than working on your beach bod and seeing gorgeous specimen #278 pass by and the last thing you want to do is say hi because well, you’re a working out heap of hot mess. So not pretty. But you can overcome this by picking up on this season’s hottest workout trends, that not only keep you looking cool, but acting cool in a way that screams “hot” for when #279 passes your way. How to do it? First you want to toss out anything that resembles “slouchy”, and then pick up these top 5 workout trends for 2010.

1. The One Shoulder Look is not just for the red carpet anymore. Yep, you see this on almost every pretty dress these days, and now we find it in workout wear thanks to designers like Stella McCartney and Alexander Wang. The One Shouldered trend in sports bra and sportswear you may not find the most supportive, but layer it under equally cute pieces and your pretty shoulder will definitely turn heads.

2. Sheer mesh is back. And we aren’t talking Cindy Lauper style. Today’s hottest workout wear for women is sheer mesh that is sporty, breathable, and almost dangerous when it comes to sex appeal. Do you need more info than that?

3. Two Words – Hot. Pants. Okay, you’ve put in enough hours at the gym for these to finally work on you, and you love how cute they make you look but wouldn’t dream of stepping on the street with them without nervously wondering if people might mistake you as “For Hire”. Enough said on that note, they are more than appropriate at the gym, will ensure you keep cool, and look hot while you do so. You’ve earned it, hot pants it is.

4. Luxe Sun Visors. These are very reminiscent of retro golf days, but they don’t have to mean so much when you are working out. Rule #1 with the sun visor – wearing indoors is so not cool. Rule #2 – stick to colors that don’t match shag carpeting. Go cute here with pinks, limes, and fluorescent type colors that are IN and don’t look like something that came out of your dad’s old retro boxes in the attic.

Fall Trend: Colorblocking

One trend for fall that is a refreshing change from all the frills and ruffles of past seasons is the colorblocking trend. I like the strong graphic appeal of either bright or jewel tones for this trend.

At Lacoste (pictured, left) the colorblocking takes on an '80s feel with big chunks of brights, but the trend also takes on a sophisticated tone with Yeohlee's black-and-white poncho.

You can also get the colorblock look simply by wearing contrasting or complimentary colors together (say a black and teal or orange and brown.) (Photo Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

One trend for fall that is a refreshing change from all the frills and ruffles of past seasons is the colorblocking trend. I like the strong graphic appeal of either bright or jewel tones for this trend.

At Lacoste (pictured, left) the colorblocking takes on an '80s feel with big chunks of brights, but the trend also takes on a sophisticated tone with Yeohlee's black-and-white poncho.

You can also get the colorblock look simply by wearing contrasting or complimentary colors together (say a black and teal or orange and brown.) (Photo Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Jason Matlo’s bridal collection

By Dahlia James

What better way to welcome wedding season than by admiring Jason Matlo’s 2010 bridal collection. This spring, we got a peek at the second bridal wear outing for Vancouver-based designer, who also has a ready-to-wear collection. Our picks for the stylish bride-to-be: A frothy ruffled off-white chiffon number, perfect for an idyllic fairytale wedding, and a the crisp fishtail gown with a sweetheart neckline and black bow belt for a more urban affair.

By Dahlia James

What better way to welcome wedding season than by admiring Jason Matlo’s 2010 bridal collection. This spring, we got a peek at the second bridal wear outing for Vancouver-based designer, who also has a ready-to-wear collection. Our picks for the stylish bride-to-be: A frothy ruffled off-white chiffon number, perfect for an idyllic fairytale wedding, and a the crisp fishtail gown with a sweetheart neckline and black bow belt for a more urban affair.

Street style: Underground disco

While last post look was all about finding that understated cool factor in the sweltering heat, this week is all about over-the-top glam. Resplendent in gleaming gold accents, our streeter has all the style (and hair) of disco queen Donna Summer. Her gold-edged glasses, glittering skirt, bejewelled belt and gilded sandals are way too fab for the subway platform!

While last post look was all about finding that understated cool factor in the sweltering heat, this week is all about over-the-top glam. Resplendent in gleaming gold accents, our streeter has all the style (and hair) of disco queen Donna Summer. Her gold-edged glasses, glittering skirt, bejewelled belt and gilded sandals are way too fab for the subway platform!

Street style: Hot chic

Sent scouting in the scorching Toronto heat this week (sorry girls!), our intrepid interns were on a mission to find chic city dwellers who braved the temperature in style. I was afraid that we would only find mad dogs and Englishmen, but as it turns out, Toronto is fashion-focused, despite the weather. The winner? A cute, cool-as-a-cucumber hipster. The baby pink oxfords are a great feminine foil to an otherwise boyish outfit.

Sent scouting in the scorching Toronto heat this week (sorry girls!), our intrepid interns were on a mission to find chic city dwellers who braved the temperature in style. I was afraid that we would only find mad dogs and Englishmen, but as it turns out, Toronto is fashion-focused, despite the weather. The winner? A cute, cool-as-a-cucumber hipster. The baby pink oxfords are a great feminine foil to an otherwise boyish outfit.

Akshay Tyagi debuts a chilly

For Thaw, Halifax conceptual fashion designer Akshay Tyagi’s debut solo collection, the inspiration was simple: cracked ice along the winter-licked shores of Nova Scotia’s St Margaret’s Bay. As swiftly as the icy scene gave seed to the idea of a collection, the designer was instantly envisioning bits of his future designs—the pleats of translucent fabrics and the folds of layered cloth, like frozen water wrapping around a rock.

But how he would share this quickly cultivated idea to the public wouldn’t be as simple.

“This couldn’t just be your typical runway show,” says Tyagi.

Not wanting the presentation to stand secondary to the work, the 23-year-old designer approached Claire Leger, the choreographer for Halifax’s Camerata Xara Young Women’s Choir, to propose a performance collaboration. What grew was the multi-sensual experience that filled the Bus Stop Theatre on October 24, taking the audience through an audio and visual journey from the cold of winter to the inevitable arrival of spring. Tyagi’s collection clothed 16 of the choir’s singers in dresses, tops and skirts (with a few pops of his dare-I-say-signature transparent plastic outerwear and accessories) in greys, blues and whites. The remaining six wore simple black dresses Tyagi had designed for a previous performance.

Housing the eeriest and most absorbing collection of voices I have ever heard, Tyagi’s designs took on new life. They became characters in Camerata Xara’s musical narrative, providing the audience with a tangible entry point into an otherworldly experience of song and movement. As the women walked, twirled and reached their way through the dark theatre, the clothing responded, becoming extensions of each gesture. And the auditory landscape, laced with “th” sounds, wave-like “shhs” and the staccato pops of the spring thaw, was heavy in the designer’s coastal inspiration. The elements of this chilling yet beautiful experience were stitched together so cohesively, that it was almost—but not quite—possible to overlook a few unfinished hems and dangling threads.

“It’s about the whole experience, not about the perfect quarter-inch hem,” says Tyagi. “As a collection, as a presentation, it worked.”

Admitting that he doesn’t see himself as a ready-to-wear clothing designer, Tyagi identifies with the world of conceptual fashion, looking up to such designers as Hussein Chalayan and Issey Miyake. His interest in fashion started a little more conventionally, with then teenaged Tyagi making mini collections for his high school fashion shows in South India. It was his International Beccalaureate Art program’s thesis paper that led him to a side of the industry that willingly blurs the lines between fashion and art. His research then brought him to Halifax’s NSCAD University, where he later graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in textiles and fashion.
His graduate collection, showcased at both the Anna Leonowens Gallery (1891 Granville St., 902-494-8223) and last fall’s Atlantic Fashion Week, was a series of sculptural pieces in vinyls and plastics that completely changed how Tyagi viewed clothing. The summer’s Off the Cuff, a fashion competition and runway show hosted by Argyle Fine Art gallery, forced Tyagi back to the studio and his sketchbook, finally bringing the frosty stimulus to fruition. Although Tyagi was of the competition’s three finalists, he felt the pieces weren’t unveiled in the environment they required.

“If this was the wrong setting for my work, I’ll show you the right setting,” he says.

If the right setting requires a room pregnant with nearly two dozen voices united in song and movement, a welcomed alternative to the conveyer-belt motion of the traditional runway, I’m all in—for whatever he comes up with next. And according to Tyagi, truly a perfectionist at heart, the next collection will find time to focus on the technical, giving his creative pieces the polish they deserve.

For Thaw, Halifax conceptual fashion designer Akshay Tyagi’s debut solo collection, the inspiration was simple: cracked ice along the winter-licked shores of Nova Scotia’s St Margaret’s Bay. As swiftly as the icy scene gave seed to the idea of a collection, the designer was instantly envisioning bits of his future designs—the pleats of translucent fabrics and the folds of layered cloth, like frozen water wrapping around a rock.

But how he would share this quickly cultivated idea to the public wouldn’t be as simple.

“This couldn’t just be your typical runway show,” says Tyagi.

Not wanting the presentation to stand secondary to the work, the 23-year-old designer approached Claire Leger, the choreographer for Halifax’s Camerata Xara Young Women’s Choir, to propose a performance collaboration. What grew was the multi-sensual experience that filled the Bus Stop Theatre on October 24, taking the audience through an audio and visual journey from the cold of winter to the inevitable arrival of spring. Tyagi’s collection clothed 16 of the choir’s singers in dresses, tops and skirts (with a few pops of his dare-I-say-signature transparent plastic outerwear and accessories) in greys, blues and whites. The remaining six wore simple black dresses Tyagi had designed for a previous performance.

Housing the eeriest and most absorbing collection of voices I have ever heard, Tyagi’s designs took on new life. They became characters in Camerata Xara’s musical narrative, providing the audience with a tangible entry point into an otherworldly experience of song and movement. As the women walked, twirled and reached their way through the dark theatre, the clothing responded, becoming extensions of each gesture. And the auditory landscape, laced with “th” sounds, wave-like “shhs” and the staccato pops of the spring thaw, was heavy in the designer’s coastal inspiration. The elements of this chilling yet beautiful experience were stitched together so cohesively, that it was almost—but not quite—possible to overlook a few unfinished hems and dangling threads.

“It’s about the whole experience, not about the perfect quarter-inch hem,” says Tyagi. “As a collection, as a presentation, it worked.”

Admitting that he doesn’t see himself as a ready-to-wear clothing designer, Tyagi identifies with the world of conceptual fashion, looking up to such designers as Hussein Chalayan and Issey Miyake. His interest in fashion started a little more conventionally, with then teenaged Tyagi making mini collections for his high school fashion shows in South India. It was his International Beccalaureate Art program’s thesis paper that led him to a side of the industry that willingly blurs the lines between fashion and art. His research then brought him to Halifax’s NSCAD University, where he later graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in textiles and fashion.
His graduate collection, showcased at both the Anna Leonowens Gallery (1891 Granville St., 902-494-8223) and last fall’s Atlantic Fashion Week, was a series of sculptural pieces in vinyls and plastics that completely changed how Tyagi viewed clothing. The summer’s Off the Cuff, a fashion competition and runway show hosted by Argyle Fine Art gallery, forced Tyagi back to the studio and his sketchbook, finally bringing the frosty stimulus to fruition. Although Tyagi was of the competition’s three finalists, he felt the pieces weren’t unveiled in the environment they required.

“If this was the wrong setting for my work, I’ll show you the right setting,” he says.

If the right setting requires a room pregnant with nearly two dozen voices united in song and movement, a welcomed alternative to the conveyer-belt motion of the traditional runway, I’m all in—for whatever he comes up with next. And according to Tyagi, truly a perfectionist at heart, the next collection will find time to focus on the technical, giving his creative pieces the polish they deserve.