Lust for football

When people look at me they won't think of sports; it's a given if you dress the way I do. I don't fault these people for doing so but it is funny how they seem perplexed when I talk almost passionately about football (my apologies to my American readers but I've got to think of my European readers so just know I'm talking about soccer). I've watched so many football documentaries, I've played so many football games (Online Soccer Manager, FIFA 2002 with Thierry Henry on the box cover, Pro Evolution Soccer 6 for PSP and even Football Manager for PC) and nowadays I still enjoy football memes. This is because I've grown up in a household with two men that love football: my father and brother. I was reminded of this when I was in London and got the idea to create a character that exclusively wears vintage football kits. The use of this character and her design have not been solidified but she exists in the confines of my cerebrum.

Venezia 23/24 third shirt by Kappa

On the European mainland football is often associated with chavs or racailles (English: scum) in France. It's commonly known that chavs are looked down upon and are even marginalized by making them the posterboys for ASBOs. The French are even quite direct in calling them straight up scum. My brother (I know the guy so I would call him scum, but let's not generalize) subscribed to this subculture in his teens, like most teens coming from a family with a migratory background in the early 2000s. This is not uncommon. When my father was growing up he clung to American hip-hop music and its culture. This is the reason why he sported Lacoste polos (copped by me decades later), Sergio Tacchini tracksuits and Nike sneakers in the late 1980s. It was fashionable with hip hop artists to wear so evidently he and many of his peers did as well. The reason why they all clung to American hip-hop culture: they didn't feel represented in mainstream European media. The only exception was sports, with football being the most famous one of course, where people of color were playing .

More than a decade later the next generation still couldn't find the needed representation in the media. So they still turned to American hip-hop and football to find a sense of belonging in this "bigger picture." This coincided with chav culture in Britain and the rise of the racailles in France. During my teen years I'd see lots of guys wearing tracksuits with the bottom of their pants tucked in their socks paired with sneakers to school. Tucking the bottom of your pants in your socks is something done by shoplifters because it stops the stolen goods you stuffed in your pants from falling back out from the bottom, but this turned into a fashion statement which eventually got adopted by Kanye West making us come full circle. Honestly that's the reason why I got inspired to write this post: the influence these people had on fashion. To me they will always be the early adopters of athleisure.

Umbro x Slam Jam 2023

Naturally I cannot ignore the influence these people and football had on me. Football was something I really enjoyed growing up. It allowed me to connect in meaningful ways with the men in my family. This would be collecting Panini stickers during the European Championship and the World Cup (stickermania every two years? Pog!) or watching documentaries about football together with my father. Or it would be playing football with my brother, be it virtually on PC or PlayStation or physically with our Adidas +Teamgeist ball (it looks like a ball covered in pads). A thing the three of us shared was the collection of shirts my father managed to accumulate over the years (let's ignore that my mother threw away a 1999-shirt from K.R.C. Genk that was signed by the 2000-team). This included shirts from different national teams and several European clubs, with Portugal's from 1997 and Manchester United's being my favorite. I liked Portugal's because of the color which was a nice deep bordeaux. The reason for Manchester United's is me being a fan of theirs and Wayne Rooney (I was a simple lass). 

Even with me having written this piece on football so passionately it isn't something that's present in my life anymore. Now and then I will look at what new kits have come out. This curiosity has only increased with so many designer collaborations the past years. Football in fashion has become more popular since Messi signed with Inter Miami. It's very obvious that this man will be more successful than Beckham in getting the United States to love football. And even with these experimental and more fashion-forward designs, the simple color combinations used for kits grants them a special place in my heart. Besides that I think we'll see a comeback of futsal shoes these coming years.

Thank you, and take care.