If you want to understand how much fashion matters look no further than the recent debate behind swimsuits being worn during the Olympics and the effect it has had on the competition. While normal observers (read: everyone) has looked at the cool/sleek space aged suits as if they were something from sci-fi flicks, they actually indeed do something. Some suits create a sort of aerodynamic shape allowing for better mobility, others are created for speed and less resistance and still others are created for both. Which led to this article on the Fashion of Speed on CBS that caught the eye.
Some have said that the Speedo suits were unfair and the Tyr suit was at a competitive disadvantage. For those who simply look great wearing a two piece and hardly even step in the olympic pool in the backyard, this mattered to a hill of beans. But what’s intriguing is that the fashion behind the suits are created by not only NASA (as in the case with Speedo), but fashion designers as well. The colors used are not arrived at by accident. There is a method to the sleekness.
And while the fight rages on, designers and the companies (Speedo/Adidas et al) will make money on the fashion of Speed.