Pret-a-sporty
With the Women’s Euros dominating the pitch, the men’s game is hitting on the counter with a pivot to high fashion. Fresh from his big money deal with Gucci, Man City’s Jack Grealish is all over the summer issue of the Face. On the other flank, an Arena Homme+ cover features England teammate Kalvin Phillips in head-to-toe Loewe. In November the magazine featured Everton’s high-fashion evangelist Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Gegen-well-pressed
Liverpool’s “Spice Boys” famously arrived for the 1996 FA Cup final in white suits (they lost). Today’s more successful team still has the style it takes: Trent Alexander-Arnold recently wore Miu Miu for Arena Homme+, while Mo Salah mixed vintage gear and high fashion on the cover of GQ. However, when the British edition of GQ launched in 1989, things were more staid, with besuited Tory MP Michael Heseltine labelled “Britain’s Beautiful Bad Boy”.
Chelsea blue
Though Hezza has extensive Liverpool connections, his cabinet colleague David Mellor was more of a “football man”. In July 1992, Mellor became the face of Tory sleaze with tabloid revelations about an affair, featuring notorious claims (largely made up), such as a fondness for wearing his beloved Chelsea strip in a situation where one normally has their full kit off.
Paco the net
1991-92 was a tough season for Mellor and Chelsea, who finished a disappointing 14th in the old First Division. Eric Cantona, meanwhile, inspired Leeds to the top-flight title. With his effortless style of play, starched collars, arched back, gnomic statements and occasional bouts of violence, the Frenchman was a fashion icon. A year later he entered the fray for a Paco Rabanne catwalk show, just after spurring his new club Manchester United to win the Premier League.
Once more with feeling
Though Cantona is now synonymous with United, it didn’t stop diehard Man City fan Liam Gallagher asking him to appear in his 2020 video for Once, where he performed in suitably iconoclastic manner. Given Gallagher’s love of swagger and style, maybe one day he’ll notice Jackie Boy doing his stuff at the Etihad and get notions for another video. C’mon, you know.
Pairing notes
Read Football’s fashion king is Héctor Bellerín. Style bible newsletter Blackbird Spyplane recently caught up with the former Arsenal defender to talk fashion tactics. Rabbit Hole bonus points: in said interview Bellérin pulls out an elegant looking Rizzoli book from 1990, Spanish Design and Architecture by Emma Dent Coad, who would later go on to win Kensington for Labour in the 2017 general election – sadly, she lost the seat in the 2019 Tory landslide.
Eat Man City boss Pep Guardiola (whose own sideline style has been questionable – the MDCR jumper, the jardigan) is also a joint owner of Tast, devoted to his native Catalan cuisine. “Guys! What a restaurant!”
