Q: Help! I'm at a loss to know what to wear for working out at the university gym. I want to look hip, but age-appropriate (I'm 50). I do NOT like wearing oversized T-shirts because I like figuring out where my muscles are working. Also, they make me feel like a slob. I want to look pretty, but I don't want to go overboard.

A: So: You secretly aspire to be a sex goddess in Spandex but you're afraid it isn't professorial? You're probably right: Run into one of your students (not to mention your department chairman or dean) when you're decked out in a teensy Lycra thong leotard and purple tights, and you'll never hear the end of it. But what's wrong with T-shirts that fit, instead of giant-sized guy-looking ones? And shorts or bike shorts or capri-length leggings?

A company called Moving Comfort makes workout wear designed to fit women's bodies -- unlike a lot of "unisex" stuff you see in sporting goods which is really just sized-down men's stuff -- so it's more comfortable to move in and also comes in cool colors and nifty prints. You'll see some of their things in the Title Nine catalog that specializes in all sorts of attractive-but-not-too-va-va-va-voom workout wear for women.

Patricia McLaughlin is a nationally syndicated fashion columnist.
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