Standing proud: how football embraced fashion
Who would have thought, two weeks ago, that “Waistcoat Wednesday” would have become A Thing? Who could have imaged that a plain navy blue blazer from high street stalwart Marks & Spencer - the likes worn at summer weddings up and down the country - would sell out on the back of its endorsement pitch side by Saint and Saviour Gareth Southgate?
Tragically, its talismanic effect didn’t carry us all the way to glory, but searches online for waistcoats this week have risen by 292%.
Away from the waistcoat (which, as this parish noted last week, is a tricky item to pull off), British football has always maintained a dialogue with style.
The Big Bang Referee, as sported by Gareth Southgate, £4,300, Hublot
Which seems unlikely, but sports and fashion have always rifted off one another - fashion has been known to cherry pick the tropes of athletic uniform and elevate them to new heights, while footballers are cemented to style icon by dipping into the world of fashion (see that other deity of British football, David Beckham). Southgate’s watch is a special edition from luxury Swiss house Hublot, which picked up the glint of the spotlights nicely.
It’s little surprise that there’s so much excitement over England’s advancements in the World Cup; amidst bleak news, our boys have behaving with impeccable grace and acted as ambassadors when our leaders have faltered. And with that pride comes the rosy nostalgia of 1966, and proof that even then our boys were switched on to style (pictures of an off-pitch Bobby Moore from that time could double as catwalk turns today, in his suede jackets and rustic-chic denim shirts).
Suede jacket, £480, Oliver Spencer
It’s an era that captured the imagination of Kent & Curwen’s creative director Daniel Kearns in looking to vintage football for inspiration this season, looking to the uniforms of a more gentlemanly era (it stands to reason; David Beckham is the co-owner of the house).
Football’s relationship with style has had its bumps in the road - and continues to do so - but for every 90s Manchester United star in a shiny suit and curtain hair cut (actually, that could well be Southgate back then) or crispy-haired Cristiano Ronaldo, there’s a Beckham in handsome tailoring or Thierry Henry in his signature cardigan. Over Mario Balotelli’s get-ups, we shall draw a polite veil.
Hackett blazer, £575, Mr Porter
So what do our boys get right? Beckham has moved on from the misdemeanours of outfits past and embraced pin-sharp, exquisite tailoring (as seen at the recent royal wedding where he sported Dior Man while Thierry Henry has shown how a man in his 40s can wear a cardigan and not look fusty (an athletic frame and neat denim certainly helps).
Back in the day, George Best was a proto Beckham in striking 60s fashion - his knack for silhouettes such as wide legged trousers with narrow, tucked in shirts could certainly educate men today - while Rio Ferdinand also shows how to update tailoring with sleek T-shirts or polo shirts instead of classic collared versions. Which as the England team arrive home, might help them hold their heads high.
