It is not the fashion set’s usual idea of fun: pints, a packed pub and the heckling of footballers on the big screen. But that was pre-Lioness fever. Now, the summer of 2023 is set to be defined by the Women’s World Cup — and London-based designer Martine Rose has taken it upon herself to whip up a football frenzy.
Last week she dropped a sell-out Nike collaboration of quirky trainers, the Nike Shox MR4 — part sneaker, part kitten heel — to her cult fanbase’s delight. They sold out the day of release. On Wednesday, editors braved the rain to celebrate the launch alongside her capsule of football-ready tailoring, and her very own Sports TV show at Dover Street Market. There was hardly a foot not heeled in her Nike design, the first iteration of which came this time last year for the Euros.
And fronting the campaign? None other than England captain Leah Williamson — who is absent from the Cup due to injury this year - sporting a new, nostalgic look with coiffed up-do, and wearing the boxy tailoring available to buy now.
“When I was designing the collection, we were thinking about athletes, we were thinking about women, and also the contrast between the men’s team getting off a private jet in their tailored Savile Row suits, and the women getting off their coach in trackies,” she says. The US Women’s team have already given them a test drive. “When a woman wears a suit, it expresses strength, resilience and beauty. I want women to feel powerful in their suits like men do. There’s no gender attached to the suit, though, anyone can wear it. I hope one day we’re not talking about gender and are just talking about the sport — once everything is stripped back, it’s just the game that’s left.”
The Croydon-born designer, who is well respected in the industry thanks to effortlessly cool menswear that touches on her British-Jamaican heritage and often centres on community, has weaved football references into her designs from her brand’s beginning in 2007. “The culture of football has always been a major part of my collections, but to work with and discover so much about women’s football has been the most rewarding experience,” she says. “I am really intrigued about how widespread and powerful the game is and how it has united people. It transcends borders in a way I don’t think any other sport does.”
Rose will be tuning in. Her top viewing tip? “Make sure you’re immersed in a crowd, that’s where you find the subculture of football”.
