Inside Fashion’s Love Affair With Football

If three still makes a trend, then add ‘football fashion’ to the Spring/Summer 2021 list. Football–known as Soccer in North America, but we’ll leave that for another feature–and fashion have a long standing love affair and it seems that the two are renewing their vows years after years. th In Martine Rose’s collection, a female model wore a football jersey, shorts and socks. Grace Wales Bonner continued her radical exploration of Blackness and masculinity with Lovers Rock reggae and Bob Marley’s football fandom in mind, in collaboration with adidas Originals. Miu Miu created kitten-heeled football boots that recall Ancuta Serca’s heels made out of football shoes.

It’s unsurprising that fashion and football go hand-in-hand. Football jerseys have evolved into global fashion items and clubs themselves. There are an estimated 3.5 billion football fans worldwide, fashion legends like Donatella Versace and Miuccia Prada included. The seminal book The Fashion of Football by Paolo Hewitt and Mark Baxter explores the connection between men’s fashion and football from ‘60s legends to the David Beckham phenomenon in the early ‘00s. Metrosexual Beckham walked, sarong tied nonchalantly on his hips, so that Héctor Bellerín, Megan Rapinoe and a new generation of fashion-conscious footballers could fly far beyond the ill-fitting jeans, fronting Louis Vuitton and Loewe campaigns and designing their own pieces.

From a supporter's point of view, football fashion is more than a seasonal trend. It’s our lifestyle; a layered expression of fandom for both the creator and wearer that reflects the nuances of football culture for better or worse. But lately the question has become: Is fashion’s football fetish admiration or outright theft? Let’s unpack the key pieces of the classic football kit.