At a time when outdoor participation and the outdoor apparel market are both booming, The Modern Outdoorist takes a comprehensive look at outdoor style, addressing contemporary trends that resonate while placing them in context. Mapping these trends helps readers understand when, why, and how these outdoor influences became so important in today’s culture. By revealing the complete picture, this book is both a cultural record and a sourcebook of inspiration to dress and step outside.
The Modern Outdoorist features nine chapters defining outdoor fashion: the Traditionalist, the Optimist, the Naturalist, the Climber, the Seeker, the Curator, the Collector, the Maximalist, and the Utilitarian. Uncovering the aesthetics and microtrends influencing outdoor style today, this book invites readers to find their own outdoor culture.
Each section is substantive, building a picture and narrative, while exploring essential brands and core values. The rich profusion of images includes style staples to help readers create each look, as well as key brand pieces and examples of the apparel worn in both outdoor and urban contexts. Insights from culturally relevant tastemakers from around the world add further context.
These chapters are bookended by a comprehensive introduction, giving a broad history of outdoor apparel over the last century up to the present day, and a closing essay looking to the future of outdoor style. The final reference section is packed full of useful information, including a brand directory where readers can source the pieces and styles depicted in the book.
Contributors
Jeanine Pesce
Author
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Jeanine Pesce comes from a long line of naturalists and what her father affectionately called “earth people”—those who feel most at home outside. With a degree in fashion design and a career in trend forecasting, she has spent more than two decades exploring the intersection of outdoor culture, design, and identity.
In 2012, Jeanine founded RANGE, an independent foresight and creative consultancy advising global outdoor, active, and lifestyle brands on the cultural forces shaping consumer behavior. She also spent more than a decade as publisher and editor of RANGE Magazine, producing eleven print issues and interviewing hundreds of founders, designers, athletes, and creative leaders, whose work ultimately inspired The Modern Outdoorist.
Jeanine serves on the advisory board of the Outdoor Recreation Archive at Utah State University. Now based in Squamish, British Columbia, she spends as much time outside as she can researching the people, products, and ideas shaping modern outdoor culture.
Nina Stotler
Author
Growing up outside Washington, D.C., Nina Stotler spent her childhood exploring the countryside in search of hidden places beyond the map. After studying writing and studio art at Sarah Lawrence College, she built a career as an editor and writer for culture and fashion magazines in New York before joining a leading global trend-forecasting agency. Uncovering the latest inspiration at runway shows, art fairs, and galleries around the world, she specialized in identifying the cultural patterns shaping emerging trends.
Over a decade ago, Nina joined Jeanine at RANGE, where she helps clients in the outdoor industry develop strategy and products, bringing her lens on fashion and cultural research to the influential style of outdoor recreation.
After living on a cattle ranch in Northern New Mexico, Nina fell in love with the American West and now lives in Los Angeles, where she continues to explore both the city’s creativity and uniquely diverse wilderness.
Sabrina Bloedorn
Foreword By
Sabrina Bloedorn is a British Columbia-based fashion and outdoor creator known for bringing a distinctly high-fashion point of view to the trails and slopes. Dubbed the “Gorpcore Queen,” she has built a loyal audience around her ability to seamlessly merge technical performance wear, emerging designers and unexpected styling—making pieces built for the mountains feel just as at home on the streets of New York.
Before becoming a full-time creator, Sabrina worked in environmental science, and her love of nature and active exploration runs much deeper than a trend. An avid hiker, skier, and traveler, she brings fashion along for adventures around the world, creating beautiful, editorial content that regularly goes viral and reaches well beyond her own audience. With a sharp eye for innovative outerwear, accessories, and emerging designers, Sabrina has carved out a unique space at the intersection of fashion, outdoor culture, and travel.
