Berenik Spring 2017

The athleisure wear trend has been around for several seasons, and though many brands have attempted to inject this dressed-down trend into their collections, Berenik has perhaps adapted athleisure wear to their design aesthetic better than any brand up to this point. Always known as a brand that pushed the proverbial fashion envelope, this season Berenik aimed for more retail viability. And this effort worked!!

Inspired by Veronika Brusa’s transcendent, meditative abstract paintings, Berenik, using a digital cloudscape print by Jack Hardwicke has infused the brand’s DNA of loose-fitting clothes with an interesting hodgepodge of meditative images and projections to inform a spring 2017 collection that goes beyond typical athleisure wear fare. This collection is more than an assemblage of garments that reflect millenials’ penchant for comfort and destination over style and sophistication, but a collection that expands the athleisure wear genre’s scope and style vernacular.

Berenik is proving that in this collection that athleisure wear can be chic, as well as promote ease of movement. And that the style genre can be infused with some tailoring and layering that speaks to a deeper conversation on what millenials might wear.

This is particularly evident in some of the men’s pieces that conjured images of early 70s rockers.  And some of the runners’ shorts and jogging suits also gave a nod to mid-70s style.

Though the more translucent and sheer garments hinted at a kind of slouchy sexiness, overall most of the garments in this spring 2017 collection leaned more toward androgyny. And isn’t this where fashion is heading, projecting, supporting, and merging concepts of masculinity and femininity in a society where gender norms are not only being questioned, but also challenged. (Just examine some of the male models in the show, who were not androgyny in appearance, but also gender bending in attitude and pose.)

If there was one downside to this outing is the lack of showstopper garments that could go viral on social media. Still, Berenik is not that kind of fashion brand. Berenik is a brand that is pushing the boundaries of fashion, and this season the brand has made its design aesthetic more retail friendly.

—William S. Gooch

Image credits

• berenik-spring-2017.jpg — Editorial image.
• collages892.jpg — Editorial image.
• collages893.jpg — Editorial image.
• collages894.jpg — Editorial image.
• downloads275.jpg — Editorial image.
• collages895.jpg — Editorial image.