The latest campaign for Dick’s Sporting Goods’ Calia brand, featuring Christy Turlington and her daughter Grace Burns, signals more than a marketing shift. It marks a deliberate move from pure performance into lifestyle fashion, a journey familiar to lingerie and activewear historians. This pivot from technical gymwear to ‘to-from’ pieces and denim mirrors the early 20th-century transformation of foundations into outerwear, pioneered by brands like Maidenform, which famously asked in 1949, “I dreamed I went shopping in my Maidenform bra.”
Calia’s strategy to ‘fill her whole closet’ reflects a post-pandemic demand for versatile comfort, a concept rooted in the 1970s when brands like Calvin Klein began blurring the lines between underwear and ready-to-wear, making intimate apparel publicly acceptable. The brand’s use of high-stretch fabrics and Tencel continues a legacy of material innovation that began with the introduction of Lastex in the 1930s, which granted garments like the girdle unprecedented flexibility.
By styling Turlington, an icon whose career spans the rise of minimalist luxury, alongside a new generation, Calia seeks a timeless appeal. It’s a modern chapter in an old story: the ongoing redefinition of where performance ends and personal style begins, proving that the wardrobe built for movement has always, ultimately, been designed for life.
Originally reported by WWD