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"This spring, Stella McCartney&amp;amp;#8217;s collection for Adidas is reaching a new level of fun with her additions of swim and paddleboarding gear to her sporty-chic collection. In celebration, Adidas threw an all-day bash in Miami, where models clad in head-to-toe neon played beach volleyball and lounged poolside. There was even a synchronized swimming show and paddleboarding for those willing to brave the water! Stella sat down with us for a behind-the-scenes interview about why she thinks personal fitness is so important and why she loves designing workout gear. Glamour: Many of our readers love active wear, so we are curious: What drew you to it at first? Stella McCartney: I was first drawn to active wear because I enjoy working out, and it&amp;amp;#8217;s very important in this day in age. I really felt women were getting the tail end of the design in active wear; not getting the technology or design we deserved. It was reserved for men. We were getting the leftover work from the sports design houses; I felt our colors were always baby pinks and pony blues, and I found it slightly insulting as a woman. I didn&amp;amp;#8217;t want to feel ashamed when walking to the gym if I bumped into a friend of mine; I wanted to feel good about the way I looked. I didn&amp;amp;#8217;t understand why style had to be sacrificed for sports technology. I found when going to the gym women were wearing their own tees, without the technology. I started to think, does it make you run faster if you wear that terrible color or sweat less if you wear that horrible fabric? And I challenged it, and the answers were not there to why we were being given poor design work. It was something I wanted to bring to women&amp;amp;#8217;s wardrobes. Glamour: How has the collection evolved since you started? SM: Each season I want to build on the categories we do. This year we brought in winter sports, which has been really successful. For me, women&amp;amp;#8217;s ski wear has always been black and, again, not as feminine or sexy as I think it could look while still having the technology there. Running is a huge category for us. To be able to run to work and have lightweight, breathable, windproof materials you can chuck in your bag that work on technical level but also on a lifestyle level are really important to me. I work out&amp;amp;#8212;and I think most people do&amp;amp;#8212;and I want to encourage women and inspire them in a way that fits in with their lifestyle. Glamour: What do you do to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and how does that influence what you design? SM: I run a lot. If I don&amp;amp;#8217;t have time to go to the gym or don&amp;amp;#8217;t have time to work out properly, I will go for a quick run. I think running is a great way to stay fit, and I really concentrate on fitting into a realistic urban lifestyle. We have great lightweight sneakers you can just throw in your bag. We have engineered pieces that are amazing for packing purposes. There are pieces you can wear in your daily life and work out in them as well. I&amp;amp;#8217;m the kind of person who does a little bit of everything, and I guess that helps me when I design because I feel I have a bit of sympathy for the product itself. I love skiing, and play a bit of tennis, and I do a lot of yoga. Glamour: What are the challenges of designing active wear as opposed to ready-to-wear? SM: The main challenge is technology and that&amp;amp;#8217;s something I really push and work closely with Adidas on. They&amp;amp;#8217;re real leaders in sports performance; always trying to push that further and further and get the best technology they can. That takes time and has rigorous testing, it&amp;amp;#8217;s very laborious, but it&amp;#x27;s also very rewarding. You get to work with fantastic athletes, and that&amp;amp;#8217;s a fantastic thing that has nothing to do with my day job in ready-to-wear. Glamour: What are your favorite pieces this season? SM: I&amp;amp;#8217;m a big fan of all the color this season. We like to have fun with the collection, and there&amp;amp;#8217;s a lot of youth and life in there. But at the same time, there are muted tones and subtle tones that you can pop out with a neon, a pastel color, or a vibrant print. You want to be confident when you work out because it takes a lot to make you work out. So many women really enjoy it, but it&amp;amp;#8217;s a hard thing and you have to make yourself do it most of the time. I think you want to feel that you look good to make you want to work out a little bit more. Will you be checking out Stella McCartney&amp;#x27;s new collection for Adidas? Photos: Becky Malinsky"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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