As you can imagine, working for a fitness start-up certainly has its perks. Sure, taking meetings over yoga mats and counting spandex as “business” attire is great, but what really gets our blood pumping is partnering with some pretty spectacular brands — and getting to give people a heads up about stuff we absolutely love.

Case in point: Lorna Jane, which I was introduced to while living in San Francisco. At first, I questioned whether Australia’s leading women’s sports label could compete with the likes of Lululemon and Athleta, even in a city that’s synonymous with yoga pants.

But we really identified with the brand’s positive message and Move Nourish Believe philosophy — not to mention their clothing is the kind that’ll get you stopped in the street by people who want to know where they can get it. Needless to say, it wasn’t much of a shocker that that brand took SF by storm; if it was cute, colorful and functional, you could bet it came from Lorna Jane.

So when I heard they were bringing a store to the Portland area and that they were giving our team at Fit Approach (SweatGuru’s sister company) an opportunity to go in for a personal styling session to try on the new fall line, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to contain myself. But the grand opening day finally came, and at last week’s party I met with a stylist who asked me about my typical activities and clothing preferences before pulling several looks to try.

First up was this green tank with a black sports brand and leggings. Normally I don’t like workout wear that’s super fussy or has a lot of details, but the strappy back totally converted me (see bottom left in the first picture above); it was as interesting to look at as it was comfortable. Sold!

Next up was a robin-egg blue sports bra with animal print capris and a bright pink hoodie. I had seen these pants online and was dying to try ’em on in person to see if they lived up to the hype. From the funky snakeskin-type print to the abstract lines, yep — another winner.

Third was a cute cut-out sports bra and track jacket with some not-so-basic black capris. And, clearly, I have no clue what to do in front of the camera.

After that, the stylist wanted to switch things up a bit with a pair of harem pants and a hooded vest. The mix of colors and prints was really fun, and I was pleasantly surprised with the pants; I’m not typically a harem pant kinda gal, but these had built-in bike shorts for support, which was brilliant!

Finally, though, came my favorite outfit of the evening — a neon yellow sports bra and cobalt top with abstract printed tights. As far as I’m concerned, you can never go wrong with a special sports bra, a vivid top and crazy pants.

In the end, I went with the last outfit and ended up buying some pieces from others — the green top, black sports bra and animal print capris — which I’ll probably piece together as a separate outfit. But, as you can see, it’s easy to get carried away in there!

Another highlight of the evening was getting to hang out with half of the Team LUNA Chix PDX Run Team (from left: Carolyn, Megan, Tiffany, Kristin, me), who came out to support our teammate Tiffany, who works at Lorna Jane. We may run together, but from the looks of this picture we consider shopping a sport, as well 🙂

A big thank you to the team at Lorna Jane for setting this up. While I did receive some clothes, all opinions are my own.  I would never promote a brand that I didn’t love.