Where fashion meets the field

Time was when woman had two wardrobe lives: her fashion life and her sportswear life - and the two were kept apart. These days, however, things have changed. As women become increasingly health conscious and the cool of collective exercise takes hold, our sporting and social lives are merging and fashion is catching up.

Check out the spring collections in the shops and you will see sporty references everywhere. At Rag & Bone, lightweight parkas, racing stripes and zips all give a vibe that feels activity friendly. At DKNY, mesh fabrics, stretchy dresses and even baseball caps, rucksacks and hi-top trainers make an appearance.

Alexander Wang, a man who has channelled sportswear since the start, has delivered a flurry of sweatshirt-inspired dresses for the season. And according to Phillip Lim, the item we shall most covet for spring will be the humble sweatshirt - albeit covered in sequins.

But as fashion creeps towards sportswear for inspiration, sportswear is also shifting its focus. It's not enough for your workout gear to be functional - it needs to pass the style test, too. It's a need that designers are identifying, not least Jaclyn Jhin, who launched her sportswear label Hu-nu in Hong Kong last year with just that consumer desire in mind.

"I wanted to design activewear that was not only stylish but also very comfortable - something you can wear all day long, to your kids' school, in the MTR, to the office," she says. "I called it Hu-nu for the play on words, as in 'who knew' you were going to the gym? We think of ourselves as a fashion house that makes activewear, not the other way around."

She is not alone. All over the world of sport, flatteringly cut and properly fitted running gear, fashion forward trainers, runway-inspired colours and cuts and the latest in pioneering fabrications are all being blended together by brands to deliver a world of workout wear possibilities.