| Sport it like Beckham
As countdown begins for the soccer carnival in Germany, World Cup themes dominate the fashion scene too. Anju Munshi reports on the trend in the run up to the four yearly soccer mania.
If Mahendra Singh Dhoni's hairstyle has driven the cool dudes crazy , if Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara smile at you from the T-shirts and caps that the trendy teenagers wear, then time is ripe for Luiz Ronaldo (Brazilian International who is currently playing for Real Madrid) to figure on jerseys and caps . During the 2006 FIFA World Cup when you find the urge to dress for the occasion, and doubly so if you are a football fan, wear the stylish T-shirts with the interesting logos.
The football carnival in Germany is approaching. But are you with the times? Have you got your World Cup soccer T-shirt, a cap or a Ronaldo jacket? If not, you may be a laggard.
Sport dressing is the buzzword currently, as football fever grips the world. Fashion garments are adding the logos and symbols of soccer and tennis in their stylistic creations, especially in their different sports apparels.
With the great sporting event coming up, the soccer crazy Indian cities like Kolkata are in a tizzy and there has been a trend of buying T-shirts, caps, hair, belts and wrist bands with soccer logos. Clothes and accessories with country flags, motifs and logos are, in a way, bringing together fashion, national symbolism and sports.
It is a feeling of being a part of the event that come at four-year intervals even though fans may be thousands of miles away from the venue. It is a feeling of camaraderie or better still a patriotic instinct that manifests itself in these designs, say the designers. Agnimitra Paul, a noted fashion designer of Kolkata, calls it an event-oriented style that helps in gearing up for the event with strong streaks of patriotism woven into it.
It is the monopoly of the football game, feels ardent football lover Vedant Munshi. "Television programmes splash football matches all across the world at regular intervals and viewers get obsessed to such an extent that they copy the heroes in whatever way they can. If David Beckham or Luiz Ronaldo , the well known icons of the game, wear No 99 shirt one would like to emulate that and copy it as a style statement," says the teenager.
Some of the major Leagues that have been shown in sports channels are The Italian series A ,The English premier league ,the Spanish- la liga and the German Bundesliga and all designers want to study the colours and the teams before a final decision on the design and the style. Finally the colours, the style of the players , shirts, shorts, caps, the lucky charms, pendants and bracelets become clues from where they draw their inspiration and eventually make a killing.
Fashion designer Preeti Jhawar is doing a sporty collection , a limited edition called “The Football Edition”, a knitwear of lycra material . In her case the logo is woven with her label. Agnmitra is very excited and wants to transfer the suggestion of the sport to saris and tops but what it is going to be, she had not decided when spoken to.
Designers know that the sports stars have a lot of fans who will pay to look like them. Clothes are the easiest way to help them feel close to their role models. It helps them feel like them and also wear an attitude like them while making a style statement. "It is a kind of a relationship," is what city's psychoanalyst Ms. Jolly Laha says.
True to this, Adidas presents 32 football boot designs inspired by the team colours of the 32 nations participating in the 2006 FIFA, says Subhro, an employee of the Adidas brand shop in Gariahat.
Some of the shoes will be widely available in retail, which the fans are going to just lap up and others will be produced in limited editions only.
As per a study on the basis of an opinion poll , ESPN channel found that this year the favourites are Brazil and Argentina followed by France and England . Brazil 's green and the yellow jackets and T-shirt is in great demand. Retailers in the markets of the city are happy with this trend and are at their best catering to this requirement.
K. Wali Enterprise in Kolkata's New Market is gearing up to cope with the demand of the Brazilian and Argentinean logos on clothes, especially for boys.
Agnimitra Paul strongly feels that sport clothing is a very trendy and a temporary phenomenon and should be a stylized affair.
"The design and the logo can't be repetitive, run of the mill and gender specific. It has to be unisex, interesting and also with some element of style woven into it,” she says. She also feels that such clothes should not be expensive for it is a short-term phenomenon . "Once the event is over the urge is over.
The T-shirts are available for Rs 200 while the jackets / jerseys cross Rs 500 mark .The branded ones with original jerseys is more expensive. Pricing has to be handled wisely for it is catering to a season, agree the designers and also the retailers.
Even women clothing items like T shirts and trousers, tops and caps have names and symbols and flags of the participant countries and occasionally names of players peep out from their caps or from the low slung trousers. Women are now as much fond of football as men after all.
And, before you forget, do buy a soccer rattler for the new born at home. Yes it is available for Rs 25 to 75 as per the size from leading toy shops of the city. |
