There appears to be a movement afoot. Supermodels, no longer satisfied with merely conquering the world of fashion and beauty, are training to fight... they are stripping off the gowns and strapping on the gloves, clambering off the catwalks and climbing through the ropes, apparently setting out to put the entire world on its backside with a stiletto boot on its throat. Should we be worried about a veritable army of boxing beauties out there?
Haute designers have long had a fashion-ation (yep, we went there) with the sweet science, especially as a backdrop to show off their latest not-workout-clothing collections on the runway and in print. Name a design house and most likely at some point they’ve dabbled in placing a beautiful, un-athletic model in a boxing ring, complete with gloves and/or wraps in order to show off clothing or jewelry that normally has no place in a sweaty gym.
Alexander Wang, Karl Lagerfeld and others are apparently somewhat obsessed with the sport. Wang came out with a boxing-inspired collection, including leather boxing gloves - albeit only for those with deep pockets - and Lagerfeld produced a special boxing trunk with heavy bag and gloves for Louis Vuitton, complete with the ubiquitous LV monogram (presumably ludicrous price upon request). Not to be outdone, exotic bag and accessory designer Elisabeth Weinstock recently introduced some fabulous python skin boxing gloves that will go perfectly with an ermine trimmed heavy bag. Yours for just $1,500. But we digress…
In recent years, boxing (and kickboxing) have become more than just a clever way to display skinny models in clothing - the models are staying after "work" to put in some real work. Yes, the new fitness trend is old school boxing!
Willowy Warriors
While there’s something that seems almost comical about rawboned and hollow-faced figurines taking on a grueling sport, the crazy thing is they’re killing it. They’re being formally trained in real boxing techniques and they’re vocal about their love of the sport, at least as their preferred method to get runway ready and print prepped.
You know the faces and some of the names. Adriana Lima, Doutzen Kroes, Kendall Jenner, Gisele Bündchen, Gigi Hadid, Irina Shayk, Miranda Kerr, Cara Delevingne… it’s really become a craze among the beautiful people.
Lima is most notable as a true boxing enthusiast. She was never a fan of exercise until she became a fan of boxing some 13 years ago. She even credits boxing training for allowing her to continue her modeling career after having children and recently turning… gulp… 34! A very ripe age for her job title, to be sure.
Gigi Hadid, not typically a fan of hanging out in a gym, loves boxing and enjoys constantly training to improve her skills. She explained one aspect of training that supermodels take to naturally, “…you want to keep your hands up by your face, obviously, to protect the gold.” Good advice.
Gisele showed off her kickboxing skills last year in an ad for Under Armour. Someone please tell her to get some Machina boxing gloves and to stop hitting the heavy bags in her bare wrapped hands!
Ms. Jenner, while arguably not a supermodel just yet, can regularly be seen taking selfies at her gym when she’s not ducking punches or paparazzi.
Okay, we poke fun, but really it’s admirable that these lovelies are out there making boxing fabulous for the rest of us. We’ll be interested to see how many stick with it and which ones move on the next fitness a la mode
