FOOTBALL ON THE CATWALK
Top labels and kit designers axe male-dominated themes in favour of stars including World Cup winners Megan Rapinoe and Tobin Heath, writes Felicia Pennant
In case you missed it, Megan Rapinoe scored a fashion screamer last week. The United States football captain is the face of Spanish luxury brand Loewe, Autumn/winter 2020, and will soon be appearing on a billboard near you.
Pulling a quizzical expression, tongue between teeth, her shock of pink-purple hair popping against a blue background and in silver top straps, the message is all about Rapinoe as a World Cupwinning, Trump-blasting injustice activist and LGBT icon.
Rapinoe, it is fair to say, eclipses the clothes, which are barely seen. This is a campaign about the global themes she represents, putting both Loewe and women’s football boldly on the map.
Thought to be the first female footballer to star in a major high-fashion campaign, Rapinoe was given the royal treatment – shot by Steven Meisel, made up by Pat Mcgrath and coiffed by Guido Palau – legends in fashion circles.
The synergy between football and fashion has a long history, of course
– from George Best’s Manchester fashion boutique of the 1960s to David James’s Armani shoot in the 1990s.
But there is a glaring gap in the history, where women have not been included in the movement, either as players or fans, a theme that has only really shifted in the last decade, with the explosion of the women’s game, from grass roots to the elite, increased investment and media coverage, the inclusion of female fans and influence of initiatives such as Romance FC and Girlfans.
After putting together seven issues of my own creative fashion and football platform
Season Zine, I see how fashion designers and brands keep mining football motifs from the beautiful game. Meanwhile, kit designers are delivering trendier shirts each season giving us moments of magic such as the Nigeria kit, Nike’s bespoke floral Lionesses kit for the 2019 Women’s World Cup, or the polka-dot shirt for host nation France, and Juventus x Palace.
The explosion of the World Cup has given female players a stage to be trendsetters, too. Rapinoe’s epic Gucci look at the 2019 Glamour Awards, the launch of a gender-neutral lifestyle brand Re-inc with team-mates Tobin Heath, Christen Press and Meghan Klingenberg last year, Roma defender Petronella Ekroth’s high-low outfits shot so well her Instagram account could belong to a fashion influencer.
The female influence extends to fashion designers, too, with Koche designer Christelle Kocher patchworking Paris St-germain shirts into directional wear with couture-like techniques. Kocher’s father grew up with Arsene Wenger, so football was inevitably a big part of her upbringing. Meanwhile, Priya Ahluwalia, founder of menswear label Ahluwalia Studio, revealed her allegiance to Arsenal and the bruised banana shirt when announcing a collaboration with Adidas during the Notting Hill Carnival last summer. Even fashion visionary Miuccia Prada reportedly reserves her Sundays for football, a clue to the forthcoming Adidas x Prada collaboration perhaps? Conversations around sustainability and transparency seem to be crossing over from fashion to football, and a strong trend is emerging of reducing football shirt landfill by upcycling old and vintage kits. Georgina Hunt creates football bucket hats and football scrunchies, while Frankie Collective has made cool football “co-ords” and mini dresses.
It is a movement now being picked up by women’s football fans in particular, many of whom – in absence of Women’s Super League merchandise – have even begun creating their own.
What is clear is that female fans and players revelling in the connection between football and fashion can no longer be ignored. Now included in menfocused campaigns and product innovations too, exciting developments are happening separately to reflect our realities. What is next? Shifting gender roles and pronouns (also the fact that many women, myself included, prefer male kit fits) mean we may be closer than ever to the arrival of genderless kits. Would you wear one?