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Rachel Hodin

Exercise Your Rights: Part II

Welcome to Wear Mail by Rachel Hodin. Home to spectacular, shoppable finds—fed to you in tasty, bite-sized edits that'll inspire you creatively, generate lols, and are specifically designed to tickle all. Read Rachel's vintage shopping thoughts here or subscribe on Substack.



In Part I, I outlined a really excellent solution for getting overzealous outdoorsy types off your back—and looking fantastic while doing it. All the while, I hurled both my parents and sister under the proverbial bus with the joyful ease of tossing out spoiled milk that’s been stinking up your fridge.


For anyone just joining us (me), the gist is this: Family = too active, very pushy about it. I am opposite, don’t enjoy when they express disappointment at my not wanting to go kayaking with them. My plan: to convey, with only the clothes on my body, that I am actually one of them, thus blending in with them and unburdening myself from their incessant and honestly oppressive invitations to go paddle boarding.


I established the foundations of this wardrobe to be vintage Miu Miu and Prada (the SS’99 and FW’99 collections). As promised, here are the rest of my finds:



 

Now, these are great foundational pieces, but in order to really drive the point home (“point” being: I own cleats), you’ll have to also hit ‘em with the hard stuff. You’ll have to pepper in jolts of sleek, aerodynamic accessories and separates that take things up a notch. Pieces that say I watch basketball and didn’t just learn about Odell Beckham Jr. from watching his brother on Love IslandI knew about him before.


I call this conspicuous athleisure—inspired by Thorstein Veblen’s 1899 sociological and economic critique, The Theory of The Leisure Class. In it, he coined the term “conspicuous leisure” to describe the combination of visibly expensive and physically stifling clothes that the wives of wealthy men wore at that time to showcase their “pecuniary success” (i.e. wealth). Clothing, in other words, that was both opulent and highly constricting, and thus seemed to say, “yes I am rich, and I don’t even need to work either.”


So that’s conspicuous leisure. What we’re looking for here is conspicuous athleisure. Pieces that seem to say you’re actually too fit for a swim in the ocean, too athletic to go on a scenic horseback ride, too adventurous to try out Nordic skiing. Pieces that allow you to pass as one of them: someone in need of not some fresh-air fitness, but some rest.


Pieces like Johanna Parv’s.



Counting London’s throngs of commuters—traveling by bike and foot—as her inspiration, the London-based Estonian turns out clean, slick, clingy designs constructed to withstand the harshest of elements thanks to tech-y materials, ergonomic fits, clever convertibility, and high-performance details. Scroll through this Instagram post to see some of the convertible designs IRL.


From skirts with built-in bike shorts and high slits for ease of movement to dresses with hems that can be rolled up and tucked into belts, these are pieces with grip and velocity.


1. Green skirt trousers, $635; 2. Black leather neck bag, $585; 3. Brown asymmetric mini skort, $590; 4. Blue vent maxi skort, $389 (on sale); 5. Gray hood jacket, $755 (on sale); 6. Action bag with a cargo system, £624.0; 7. Black zip top, $289 (on sale); 8. Pocket harness, $490



Designs like necklace-style bags with openings at the side to use as a handy muff. Hoods that stand up to the strongest gusts of wind, with a single cutout at the back for your ponytail. And skirts with enough room to store a bag under—should you find yourself in a downpour—and then hold said bag by slipping the straps through a slit. Finished with drawstrings and advanced metal rigger buckles, these are pieces that snap into place with chic functionality.


1. Black re-purposed 50s vintage belt bag, $302 (on sale); 2. Zip-up paneled maxi, €1,735 (definitely not on sale); 3. Black pockets miniskirt, $600; 4. Black draped back midi, $620; 5. Green cover midi skirt, $635; 6. Brown mesh hoodie, $515; 7. Black hood bolero, $250 (on sale); 8. Black harness tote, $265 (sale); 9. Upcycled backpack, £624; 10. Insulated gilet, $690


 

I would be remiss to even continue going on about activewear and not mention the only sportswear brand I have ever worn and will likely ever wear when doing Pilates or yoga: Matek.


Abigail Stern, its founder and designer, is very about minimizing waste, which is why, instead of focusing on quantity, she doubled down on quality, creating the perfect legging, bike short, onesie, full length bodysuit, long-sleeve bodysuit, and bra. They come in an insanely comfy recycled nylon; some very cool colors; and feature incredibly thoughtful details that only a winter sports freak like Abigail could come up with (think: extra-high turtlenecks that double as scarves). She also makes fantastic balaclavas (and arguably started the trend), and then last year bestowed us with this slouchy beanie which, immediately after it launched, Rihanna wore.


Throw these pieces into the mix and you will essentially be hypnotizing your family (or whoever it is you need to fool), rewiring them to see you as someone who enjoys soccer. It’ll happen so fast, it’ll leave them whiplashed. They literally will not know what happened to them.

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