Marvelous Michi: A Label That’s 400 Years Ahead Of Its Time

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Posted by richard | August 28, 2012

If you aren’t wearing Michi this fall, you’ll be missing out on one of the season’s hottest — and most welcome — fashion trends. And one that’s almost guaranteed to last.

Michi takes two fashion-forward ideas — technical athletic wear and lingerie as outerwear — mashes them up and catapults the whole thing about 400 years into the future.

This is a garment collection straight out of the sci-fi world of Aeon Flux: utilitarian, multi-functional, high-tech … and gorgeous to look at (and be seen in).

It’s underwear, it’s gym kit, it’s streetwear, it’s club-friendly and, in a pinch, it’ll get you through your next gallery opening. If your day starts with a spinning class and ends with a Florence + The Machine concert, Michi will take you from dawn to well past dusk.

Michi’s brilliant concept is the brainchild of Toronto-based designer Michelle Watson, whose resume includes gigs with Kate Spade, Donna Karan and Ralph Lauren’s performance athletic label RLX.

She launched Michi in 2010 and the first couple of seasons showed Michelle’s passion for combining sportswear trends with fashion-forward lingerie styling. Those early collections were, strictly speaking, gym wear — tight-fitting, contoured pieces with contrasting graphic panels.

But with her new Fall 2012 collection, Michelle has taken Michi to a new level — simply put, this will be your new fashion staple, your all-occasion go-to brand.

In addition to the performance bras and leggings that earned Michi its fans, the new collection includes soft jersey tanks, coverups and some of the coolest sweatshirts and sweatpants (above) you’ll see this year. Even if you never set foot in a gym, you’ll still covet this stuff.

You can see in Michi the confluence of several emerging trends, inspirations and just plain good timing too:

The recent Olympics cast a spotlight on phenomenal advances in technical performance wear, and Stella McCartney‘s collabo with adidas helped bring fashion-conscious sportswear out of the gym and into your daily wardrobe.
Crossover fashion labels like VPL paved the way by turning basic underwear styling into luxury fashion, and LuluLemon made expensive yoga pants a must-have uniform for high school and college girls. Even Victoria’s Secret jumped aboard with its sexy gym line, VSX (which now includes a push-up bra!)
And finally, advances in fabric technology — wicking, odor-blocking, and durable stretch and mesh Lycra blends — have given designers new freedom to cut and combine pieces in a way that won’t cause them to break down after three washings.

The result is Michi’s brave new world of underwear everywhere. Get ready, folks: the future has arrived.

Here’s a look at Michi’s Fall 2012 collection of activewear coordinates and knitwear layering looks. The brand has an online shop, and you can find it in shops such as Equinox and DEKA.