Running Isn’t a Fashion Show. Or Is It?

How race-day outfits became a canvas for identity... and another source of pressure to "look the part."

When I first sat down to write this, I was frustrated with the growing obsession over what runners wear. The Lululemon kits, sponsored hauls, and “get ready to run a marathon with me” videos - which sometimes include a full hour of hair and makeup -  are setting the expectation that even casual runners should look runway-ready. 

The fashion craze in the running community can feel inaccessible, wasteful, and overly consumerist. It’s another reminder that fitness culture often centers those with disposable income, the “right” body type, and time to curate an aesthetic. What stands out most is how disproportionately the pressure to dress well falls on women. Even when logging hundreds of miles, women are expected to look good - a double standard to which men are rarely subjected. 

Running is about so many things: community, health, stress relief, purpose, the list goes on. But, to me, running isn’t about my outfit. And yet, increasingly, the sport feels like it’s morphing into a fashion show.

I’m not the only one noticing the trend. Fashion has become so integral to running culture that, starting in 2022, The New York Times began publishing annual features with titles like “The New York City Marathon: A 26.2-Mile Fashion Show” (2022), “New York City Marathon: Best Fashion Looks” (2023) and “9 Memorable Looks at the New York City Marathon” (2024). In February 2025, CNN opened an article on running with the line: “If you’ve recently started running, the hardest part may have been deciding what kit to buy.” Over on Reddit, a popular thread first created in 2021 is dedicated to what to wear on race day, heavily focused on aesthetic rather than performance or weather conditions. 

But, I’ve come to learn this obsession with fashion isn’t just about vanity. For many, what they wear on race day is about visibility, self-expression, and agency. This post is about: how fashion and beauty in running lives at the intersection of empowerment and exclusion, self-expression and consumerism, protest and pressure.

The Double Standard

Michael Jordan, widely considered to be the greatest basketball player of all time, earned just under $94 million in the NBA when he retired in 2003. But the deal that truly reshaped his legacy, and the sneaker industry, came much earlier. In 1984, Jordan signed a five-year, $2.5 million contract with Nike. That partnership not only launched the iconic Air Jordan brand but also marked the beginning of a business relationship that continues to the present. By 2020, Jordan had earned an estimated $1.3 billion from the deal, and in 2022 alone, he made $256 million from Nike, more than double his total career earnings from the NBA.

No one questions Jordan’s legitimacy or commitment to the game because he has a shoe deal. His fashion and branding choices elevate his legacy and make people respect him as a businessman and fashion icon as much as an athlete. Now imagine a female athlete doing the same. She’d likely be met with skepticism, accused of caring more about clothes and Instagram metrics than her athletic performance.

This double standard isn’t new, and it extends to the running world as well. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, American track and field athlete Florence Griffith Joyner set world records in the 100-meter and 200-meter races. Yet the media fixated on her beauty regime and six-inch long acrylic nails. As scholar Lindsay Pieper noted, “Because she preferred long, colorful nails, the runner was depicted as abnormal, deviant, and different.” 

Historically, and in the present day, female athletes are expected to focus primarily on performance, and anything else is viewed as a distraction. To survive in male-dominated spaces - whether that’s on a field, track, or arena - we’re expected to adopt stereotypically “masculine” qualities, such as strength or competitiveness. Visibility is a liability, not an asset.

Elite runner Anya Culling explained that: “There was always this unspoken idea that if you were a girl who played sports, you either had to sacrifice your femininity or constantly prove that you could still be ‘girly’ enough off the field.” Makeup and cute outfits are ways women push back on the belief that strength and femininity can’t coexist. For many, it’s also a reclaiming of control over their image, a decision to stand out rather than shrink as women are so often told to do.

Fashion is Political

Few athletes have politicized style as effectively as Serena Williams. She not only dominated tennis, she redefined what a tennis champion could look like. Catsuits. Tutus. Braids. She made it clear that being unapologetically visible as a Black woman in a sport defined by “tennis Whites” was itself a revolutionary act. As The New York Times put it, “She smashed barriers of race, age and background, and she smashed the old dress codes of tennis.” Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson noted that Williams curated her wardrobe with a simple but radical belief: women deserve to be seen. Her fashion wasn’t a distraction; it was about claiming visibility in a sport and a world that had long tried to minimize her.

And this extends far beyond tennis. In 2020, thousands around the world ran 2.23 miles to honor Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man murdered in a racially motivated act while jogging. The distance symbolized February 23, the day he was killed, turning running into a collective act of protest.

More and more, runners are showing up to races in gear bearing climate justice slogans, Black Lives Matter logos, and symbols of queer and trans pride. For marginalized groups, visibility on the starting line is itself political.

This is especially true of Gen Z, a generation that’s embraced both running and political activism. Fashion, for them, has become a way to communicate one’s identity, values, and performance. A 2025 Axios study found that 38% of Americans, and notably 41% of Gen Z, had recently stopped shopping at companies with conflicting views, making buying and boycotting a modern form of protest. In that way, race-day fashion can also be a reflection of personal identity and values. 

Look Good, Feel Good

For many women, the process of getting ready, including makeup, is part of their mental warm-up. It’s a ritual that helps them reset, focus, and feel their best. Some describe it as a form of self-care and a way to tend to their bodies after the intense physical effort they’ve put in. One London Marathon runner explained, “It’s about taking pride in showing up to a race that I’ve prepared for months.” She wants to show up for races feeling and looking her best. 

This mindset often goes beyond fashion and skincare to tanning, manicures, and elaborate hairstyles. Sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, one of the fastest women in the world, is equally known for her decorated nails and bold hair. For Richardson, beauty isn’t a distraction from her sport, it’s part of her identity and what sets her apart. 

I used to view this trend as women catering to the male gaze. But I’ve come to understand that, for many, these choices are acts of self-determination, a way to assert identity and feel confident on their own terms.

Fashion as Distraction

That said, this topic isn’t without nuance. I recently spoke with some friends who played varsity sports in college. They remembered times when, while the men’s team was warming up, much of the women’s team was in the locker room doing their hair and makeup. The result? Those who prioritized warming up, regardless of gender, tended to perform better, likely because their attention was fully on the game, not on how they’d appear in post-match photos.

In milder cases, an outfit might be uncomfortable or distracting, preventing someone from performing at their best. In more serious instances, the pursuit of a particular body ideal can negatively impact both performance and overall health. 

This topic isn’t black and white, as I had originally believed. The way people mentally prepare for competition or performance is deeply individualized, and what works for one person might not for another. Ultimately, it’s about knowing yourself and understanding whether your rituals are truly empowering, or if they’re rooted in a need to conform to societal expectations.

The Price to Participate

Beyond individual distractions, the rise of aesthetic-driven running culture has introduced broader, systemic challenges. The pressure to “look like a runner” now extends beyond body image to include specific brands and expensive gear, creating a new form of gatekeeping rooted in class and access. Notably, a 2025 study found that nearly 40% of Gen Z has gone into debt to maintain appearances online. “RunTok” and the broader online running community may be contributing to that, pushing expensive trends under the guise of motivation. 

Running is supposed to be simple. You don’t need a gym, team, or membership. But that promise disappears when runners feel they can’t show up unless they’re in $1000 worth of gear. Running itself is a privilege: having the time, the health, and safe places to run aren’t guaranteed. Even signing up for races, or just getting there, can be a financial stretch. Let’s not turn clothing into yet another barrier to entry.

Run Fast, Buy Slow

As running fashion explodes, fast fashion has stepped in. The result: cheap, trendy athletic wear made from synthetic, non-biodegradable materials that often last a few washes before ending up in landfills. The trend of “haul culture” and one-use shoes only adds to the environmental toll.

Worse, the production chains behind these goods often rely on the exploitation of low-wage labor in the Global South, which disproportionately women working in unsafe, unregulated factories, all so we can buy three new sports bras on Amazon for the price of one.

In response, some brands are pledging change. Patagonia and Lululemon, for example, are investing in recycled materials, reducing their water usage, and being more transparent about their supply chains. Other brands like REI have buy-back programs, where customers are able to trade in gently used apparel in exchange for store credit. But greenwashing remains rampant, with brands advertising vague sustainability promises that don’t amount to much change.

Come As You Are

When I began writing this piece, I had a more conclusive (aka rigid) view: that fashion and makeup were distractions from the essence of running. But like so much in life, the reality is more nuanced.

Fashion can be superficial and overly-aesthetics driven. But it can also be liberating, political, and motivating. Some elite athletes enjoy bold hair and makeup precisely because the rest of their kit is so uniform, and it’s their only form of self-expression. For everyday runners, a new outfit might be the reason they’re motivated to do that early morning run in the first place.

Especially for women, for people of color, for queer and trans runners, and ultimately anyone who hasn’t always felt welcome in the sport, fashion can be a form of resistance. But that doesn’t mean it should become the standard everyone is held to. Running should always be a “come as you are” space, whether that means a full face of makeup and a matching set or an old t-shirt and clearance shoes. 

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Sophie van Leeuwen is the Podcast and Social Media Assistant at Running Explained, where she helps manage behind-the-scenes content, research, and production. A lifelong runner, she got her start going on neighborhood runs with her dad when she was seven and has since completed multiple marathons and her first 50k. She’s currently aiming to explore more trail and ultrarunning.

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