How to Ice Out Your Athleisure Looks
Celebrity endorsements have fueled the athleisure fashion movement, and many stars have even started their own brands. For instance, tennis champion Venus Williams founded her line EleVen in 2007, while Kanye West’s line Yeezy partnered with Adidas in 2015. His Yeezy Boost sneakers have since become ubiquitous among street style icons.
Musicians like Kanye and Pharrell Williams are great examples of how the athleisure look can be elevated with the addition of some fine jewelry and a touch of bling. Keep reading for more inspiration on how you can ice out your sporty aesthetic.
What Is the Athleisure Look?
Combining elements of activewear, leisurewear, and streetwear, athleisure is a fashion phenomenon that places equal importance on function and aesthetics. Typical athleisure garments include sneakers, leggings, sweatpants, and hoodies. Athleisure designers take advantage of performance and luxury textiles developments to create pieces that are as comfortable to wear while working out as watching a movie on the couch, yet still stylish enough to wear to a lunch date or out shopping.
Gore-tex® is one example of a popular activewear material; it’s a durable waterproof material that protects the wearer from the elements while allowing sweat to evaporate. Gore-tex® is used in all kinds of athleisure apparel, from jackets to running shoes.
Diamond Neck Chains
The easiest way to add some bling to your athleisure look is by adding a neck chain. There are many types of gold chains for men, from heavy curb chains to slick herringbone necklaces. Often men adorn their chains with meaningful pendants or medallions, such as religious symbols or engraved dog tags, often sporting diamonds or other precious stones.
However, you can ice out your neck chain without adding a pendant. Diamonds can be added to many different chains, but your best bet is to go for a style with thick links, such as a Cuban link or curb chain. Of course, the thicker the chain, the more diamonds can be added and the bigger the impact. If you’re looking for maximum sparkle, consider a tennis chain. These necklaces have larger diamonds, and the focus is on the diamond itself, rather than the shape of the links.
Wearing a neck chain—or several—is an excellent way to introduce some bling into your athleisure looks. Many athleisure tops are crew neck, and these work best with slightly longer chains that fall to the mid-chest. But if you love a sporty polo, try it with a shorter gold chain that sits around your collar bones.
Layering is a common feature of the athleisure aesthetic, and layered neck chains can add to this textured style. Mix chains of different styles and lengths for an interesting look but avoid clashing by sticking to the same metal color, such as yellow gold.
Find The Perfect Gold ChainMeaningful Pendants
Although good-quality iced out chains look slick with or without a pendant, pendants allow you to express your personality and have a little fun with your jewelry. From traditional pieces like crosses and classic hip-hop looks such as dollar signs to irreverent symbols like marijuana leaves and quirky designs such as diamond earrings buds, there are pendants for every taste.
Pendants make a dynamic addition to athleisure apparel, which is often fairly minimalistic. If you’re choosing a pendant specifically to wear with your activewear, why not tie your look together by selecting a sports-themed piece? Diamond encrusted pendants with sports imagery, including basketball hoops, footballs, and golf clubs, work perfectly in athleisure garments such as bomber jackets and sweatshirts.
Luxury Bling Timepieces
Rolex is the most recognizable of the luxury watch brands. Their popularity is so widespread that dozens of artists from Kanye to Jay-Z name-drop them in their songs. Rolex watches for men represent quality, prestige, and style, and their bold design is the perfect accompaniment to an athleisure outfit.
If you’re working out, you’re probably more likely to wear a fitness tracking watch that can give you valuable information, such as your heart rate and even your blood oxygen levels, but the athleisure trend isn’t specifically about doing sport. While athleisure garments are designed with exercise in mind, they are just as frequently worn by people going about their day, and many of them mix elements of the look with other styles, even formal pieces.
Taking aspects of other styles and combining them with athleisure garments makes for dynamic outfits and allows people to add their own unique fashion sensibilities. For instance, pairing brightly colored sneakers and a sporty bomber jacket with a button shirt creates a more unexpected look than a head-to-toe casual or formal look. It also makes the outfit appropriate for a wider range of events.
By wearing a luxury watch like a Rolex with an athleisure look, you add a surprising note to your ensemble and elevate your activewear garments, making them look more expensive. Of course, a watch is also a great excuse to include some bling.
Most Rolex models, including the famous Daytona—a vintage model which was once owned by Paul Newman and sold in 2017 for a record-breaking $17.71 million—can be completely iced out. However, if you prefer a more understated look, you can opt for diamonds in smaller quantities on parts of the watch, such as the bezel, markers, crown, or dial.
If you’re planning to wear your Rolex alongside other jewelry, opt for a two-tone design that includes two colors of metal, such a white and yellow gold. This ensures that your timepiece goes well with all your jewelry, therefore maximizing your accessorizing possibilities.
Browse Our Selection Of Iced Out WatchesIced-Out Bracelets
If you’re not a watch person or simply want to add more bling to your athleisure look, try a diamond bracelet. Iced-out bracelets can create a more subtle look than neck chains, but, if you want to amp it up, you can wear several at a time.
Just like diamond necklaces, thick link chains and tennis bracelets are a fantastic way to wear diamonds on your wrists. Alternatively, you could opt for a bangle or cuff. Bangles come in a wide range of shapes and often sports images in colored stones, such as crosses or interesting shapes like bells. For a more personalized look, buy a bracelet with an ID plaque that can be engraved with a text or symbol of your choice.
Diamond Stud Earrings
Like many types of jewelry, men have been wearing earrings for centuries, though the styles and significance of those styles have changed over the years. Studs and hoops are trendy accessories for men around the world, and they are a fantastic way to add a bit of ice to any look.
A pair—or single—diamond stud is a fairly understated style statement that gives an outfit a certain je ne sais quoi. Although this is a small accessory, there are still many variations available, from the cut to the color of the stones. Keep things simple, with a minimal square-cut set in white gold, or opt for a fun shape such as a regal crown or classic angel wings.
Diamond Rings for Every Finger
Whether you’re going for a pinky ring, a two-finger ring, or a wedding band, decorating your fingers with a bit of bling is a timeless way to ice out any outfit. Working out while wearing a giant diamond isn’t feasible, but athleisure is worn for all kinds of occasions, making dramatic jewelry just as appropriate as an accessory as a pair of sneakers. The contrast between the casual fit and textiles of athleisure garments with the luxury and extravagance of diamond jewelry makes this style so engaging.
For classy simplicity, opt for a large solitaire stone or, for maximum sparkle, embrace pavé diamonds. Before you decide on your ring design, choose which finger you want to wear it on. This is important for the fit of your ring and how the shape will look on that finger. If you plan to combine your new ring with other pieces, take them with you when you go ring shopping to ensure your jewelry works well together.
Although, traditionally, engagement rings are worn by women and not men, more men are choosing to show their love and commitment to their fiancees through their jewelry. Celebrities such as Ed Sheeran and Michael Bublé have joined this trend and wear their rings with pride.
On top of the fashion for male engagement rings, more men are bucking the traditional simplistic wedding band and choosing elaborate diamond-set models. Whether you’re celebrating a marriage or you just love jewelry, investing in a high-quality diamond ring can elevate your athleisure look and be great fun to wear.
Sparkling Designer Shades
When you initially think about icing out a look, you immediately jump to jewelry, but there are other ways your look can shine. For instance, how about getting a pair of diamond-set sunglasses?
Early examples of sunglasses were found as far back as the Roman Empire. It’s believed, in the 12th century, the Chinese used pieces of smoky quartz to protect their eyes from the sun, while it’s stated in Pliny the Elder’s work Natural History that the Roman Emperor Nero used to hold an emerald to his eye to allow him to view the gladiator matches despite the burning sun. So, not only are sunglasses, themselves, hundreds of years old, but so is the idea of using precious stones on your shades.
The mass production of sunglasses didn’t take off until the late 1920s, but they quickly became the ultimate fashion accessory of the day when they did. These days, most people have at least one pair of shades, and they’ve become synonymous with celebrities hiding from the paparazzi.
Just like jewelry, hip-hop artists have embraced sunglasses as a way to express their personalities and pile on the bling. American rapper Gucci Mane is famous for stepping out in unique shades, perhaps most notably a pair of golden baroque sunglasses by Mercura NYC.
Although Gucci Mane’s look might not be your style, if you’re looking to ice out your athleisure look, picking up a pair of diamond-encrusted sunglasses is a great option. Look to high-end fashion designers such as Louis Vuitton for a modern, elegant pair.
Extravagant Diamond Sneakers
Sneakers are a multi-billion dollar industry. Admiring, collecting, or reselling sneakers is a hugely popular hobby that has spawned the name “sneakerhead,” a term that inspired a 2020 Netflix original comedy series. Sneakers are also an integral part of the athleisure aesthetic, with kicks of all styles worn by millions of people, not just in the gym.
Considering that sneakers are regularly used to make fashion statements and that they are such a feature of athleisure, they are the perfect accessory for adding some ice into your outfits. In 2018, the high-end fashion line famed for luxury shoes, Jimmy Choo, released its first diamond-covered sneaker, and it’s the very definition of bling. If you’re looking for something extravagant to wear with your cashmere sweatpants and leather bomber, diamond sneakers have got to be it.
Surprising Bling Zippers
From track jackets to bombers, jackets are a staple of the athleisure look. Designers have been souping up these jackets for years, such as the trend for silky, embroidered bombers that come from the Japanese Sukajan jacket, meaning “souvenir jacket.” These touches take a simple sporty garment and turn it into something luxurious and unique.
Bling is often added to jackets through stones and sequins, but another way to ice out your look is to add diamonds to your activewear jacket’s zippers. There are some jackets like this on the market, but, if you already have a favorite jacket, why not have it customized? Hire a skilled tailor or seamstress to switch the zippers out, and you’ll have yourself a one-of-a-kind piece.
Upgrade Your Athleisure Look with Iced-Out Accessories
The athleisure trend allows fashion lovers to take the most stylish elements of activewear and elevate them with accessories and iced-out pieces of jewelry. Athleisure is the most comfortable clothing style, and dressing those outfits up with bling necklaces, watches, rings, and bracelets creates a dynamic look that keeps people interested and makes you stand out.
However, adding ice to your athleisure needn’t stop at conventional jewelry: Bling belongs everywhere! Any accessory, from your sneakers and baseball cap to your phone case and even your water bottle, can be improved with a dusting of diamonds.
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