The truth hurts: We can’t all be Beyoncé. But what we can do is wear her active wear and hope that comes close enough. In another move of regal awesomeness, Queen Bey has released an all-new active wear line for women, to empower ladies everywhere to work with and not against their bodies. The line, helmed by Beyoncé and Sir Phillip Green, drops under the brand name Ivy Park – inspired by the Roman Numeral for ‘four’ (IV), which is significant to Beyoncé for being the date of her birthday, her husband’s birthday, and their wedding anniversary. And that fun fact aside, we can all coo at the fact that it pays sweet tribute to Bey’s little girl Blue Ivy too.
The collection itself centres around embracing technology to achieve the very best in high functioning sportswear. Think the usual – logo sweatshirts, v-band structured sports bras, and seamless knit bottoms – but made like “second skin” for maximum performance. Still, the real star of the collection has to be the core leggings – an ode to Beyoncé’s impossibly toned thighs, we’re guessing. Made from a sweat-wicking, non-piling elastic material, they come in three shapes that guarantee to elongate the leg and flatter all body types, which will definitely come in handy because, you know, everyone still wants to look good working out. The three shapes are cleverly named ‘I’ (low rise), ‘V’ (mid rise), and ‘Y’ (high rise), and are available in three leg lengths – the capri, crop, and full length. Versatile, no matter what sport you’re using them for.
And obviously it isn’t a Beyoncé line without some daring bodysuits and tantalising mesh. The bodysuits in the collection come fitted with fishnet sleeves, and the mesh even extends to the hoodies and raglan sweaters. The outerwear pieces feature details we can all be thankful for too – like tape-bonded holes for headphone cables to slip through, so you’re always exercising comfortable. One intriguing thing to note is that the entire collection isn’t categorised by sport, so there’s no one definition of what it’s “meant” to be used for; you choose how you want to use it, so you can feel your best whatever you’re doing.
Of course, as proud members of the BeyHive, we wholeheartedly support anything from the Queen. But Ivy Park takes it one step further (and not just through lunges) with its all-inspiring mission to start a cultural movement, to bring girls and women away from the superficial ideals of ‘beauty’ and ‘prettiness’ – towards ‘strength’, ‘wellness’ and ‘health’ instead. Quite frankly, even down to the mantra of valuing one’s body from the inside out, everything about Ivy Park screams Beyoncé. Casual rumour about the Queen rehearsing on a treadmill to train stamina aside, the whole notion that personal physical accomplishment feeds into mental happiness seems very in line with her own ideals, which, honestly, have got us totally vibin’.
Ivy Park collection, S$28 to S$65, available at Topshop, ZALORA and net-a-porter.com.
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