A decade ago, Dubai’s elite signalled their superiority via their collection of rare Hermès handbags. Now, a Dubaian’s biggest flex is a run of green recoveries recorded on your WHOOP (custom diamond-encrusted gold band optional). Head to Kite Beach at 6am on any given morning and you’ll be greeted by hordes of runners pounding what has to be one of the most picturesque running tracks in the world; framed by the Burj Al Arab, ethereal in the morning light.
Pilates studios are popping up across the city faster than the nail bar rush of the aughts (most recently, VAURA Pilates, promising immersive reformer classes in DIFC from next weekend). And if you haven’t developed a strawberry matcha habit by now, I’m guessing you keep your mobile phone in a fold-open leather case.
The intersection of fashion and fitness has never been more closely woven. The region’s mega style influencers, such as Karen Wazen, are rarely pictured without a fitness wearable stacked among Cartier bracelets. Sports stars are being wooed by fashion brands; last week Victoria’s Secret hired basketball player Angel Reese and gymnast Suni Lee to walk alongside the supermodels in its fashion show. For right or for wrong, when you hit the studio or the track, the selfie is as coveted as the sweat, so what you wear matters. And next week, with the launch of Dubai’s biggest fitness event of the year, expect the city to come alive with activewear. Dubai Fitness Challenge, running from November 1-30, offers a month’s worth of Instagrammable fitness moments to show off both your form and your ’fit.
From Kim Kardashian’s NikeSKIMS collection of women’s sportwear, to this season’s most wanted collab between skate shoe brand Vans and the unapologetic luxury of Valentino, Dubai Fitness Challenge provides the runway on which to unleash your sports style. And you won’t be alone. Last year, 278,000 people participated in the Dubai Run, which sees Sheikh Zayed Road transformed into a five-and-10K running track. R&B star Jason Derulo was there, pyrotechnic skydivers painted the air overhead in colours of the UAE flag, and record numbers of runners helped Dubai Run become the world’s largest community sporting event. I was there for the inaugural Dubai Run in 2019, when 70,000 of us took to SZR for the first time; closing the city’s major artery on a Sunday morning a powerful statement of the ambition to make Dubai the world’s most active city.
If you want to stand out, eschew the free tee and opt for a metallic-detail piece from Mona Kattan’s collab with Heroine Sport to reflect the glittering architecture of Sheikh Zayed Road. For a literal runway experience, this year residents can sign up for the inaugural Runway Run at Dubai Airshow, surrounded by 200 aircraft displays.
Or, the world’s first spinning class on a live international airport runway returns for a second year, when boutique UAE fitness studio CRANK partners with DXB to host spinning classes under the flight path of Emirates A380s. There’s also sound healing at Dubai Aquarium Tunnel (perfect for Alo Yoga’s ‘Bluestone’ colourway), sunset yoga on stand up paddleboards in Hatta (wear Adidas x Farm Rio board shorts), and even a triathlon in the sky 200 metres above Dubai at AURA Skypool (I like Hunza G’s ‘Tyra’ surf suit with UPF50 in cornflower to match the azure infinity pool).
Whichever event you sign up for, and whatever you wear, I’m advocating to finish your fitness fit with Dubai bling. What could be more dazzling than these limited edition Oakley Plazma sunglasses, landing in stores this weekend? Embellished with 867 crystals, and created to celebrate 130 years of Swarovski this month, this track star-worthy edition of the OG athlete’s sunglasses will refract Dubai’s glittering skyline, while you focus on chasing the sun.
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