Looking back on the history of fitness fashion, there have been some pretty dark periods—most notably Jane Fonda’s ass-floss era.

But perhaps just as horrendous was that phase when women played sports in shapeless Ts and bulky sweatpants that gave them saggy diaper butt. MelEesa Lorett lived through those tough times. And now, righting those wrongs is her life’s work. She’s the new design director at Karma, a Vancouver-based clothing company that started about 10 years ago as a hot-yoga label but recently relaunched as more of a dance-inspired, street-to-studio clothing line.

“I always wanted to create beautiful activewear because I was an athlete in university and we always had to wear oversized men’s stuff, which is not attractive,” recalls Lorett, who sat down with the Straight at Karma’s headquarters in Yaletown. “And so this is a dream for me to create really fashionable yoga pieces.”

True to Lorett’s vision, Karma designs—carried at numerous studios and boutiques, including YYoga (various locations) and Pur Movement (123–11180 Coppersmith Place, Richmond)—are functional in that she uses high-tech fabrics like stretchy, breathable bamboo jersey. And they’re fashion-forward, taking style cues straight from the runway. For example, her 2013 spring/summer collection is heavily influenced by the Great Gatsby craze that’s going on right now.

There’s the Nellie Tight ($84), which has a waistband with art deco-inspired detailing as well as mesh ventilation panels running down the outside of the legs. Then there’s the drapey Clare T ($54), which has a deep scooped back and dropped waist reminiscent of a flapper dress silhouette. This versatile layering piece looks especially hot in Karma’s vibrant Caribbean green. Another theme playing throughout this collection is art nouveau, visible in the leafy, abstract black-and-white print aptly named Nouveau.

In addition to these catwalk nods, Karma also produces a core line of customer favourites including the tried and tested Yama Tight ($80).

“It’s always our bestseller,” Lorett says. “Everyone calls it the yummy tight. It’s got a ribbed waistband and it’s a little higher, so it really sucks you in and covers your lady bump.”

Along with creating pieces that are practical but not at the cost of style, Karma is focused on keeping production close to home.

“Everything we do, we produce in our own backyard, and we’re going to stay that way,” Lorett says. “We really believe in supporting our community wherever we are and there’s many ways of doing that, so we’re helping with various things. But the big one for us is to dedicate ourselves to bringing local manufacturing back to North America.”

They also want to bring sexy back to yoga. Karma’s lacy, strappy bras aren’t your average breast-deforming jogging numbers. In fact, it’s almost a shame to cover them up… so they don’t.

“All of our tops are made to work around the bras, so we have a lot of drop backs,” Lorett says. “Because in my opinion women have the most beautiful backs, so why not show that off?”