There are two indisputable truths about the Premier League off-season.
The summer break gets shorter and shorter each year as players’ time off is squeezed by pre- and post-season tours, international duty, and unnecessary competitions like the Club World Cup. The best that a top player in the prime of their career can hope for nowadays is a three to four week stretch between July and August, if they’re lucky, before they are launched into another 50+ game season.
In a league where tunnel fits don’t exist because players have to turn up to games in club tracksuits (or sometimes actual suits), the off-season becomes the time when athletes truly get to flex their love for fashion. It won’t surprise you to learn that it’s the latter that we will be focusing on in today’s newsletter.
Now that the (very short) Premier League off-season is drawing to a close and teams are headed to far-flung countries for training camps and friendly tournaments, I thought it would be a good time to review the best fashion moments on display from the summer break.
For many players, a summer break isn’t a regular vacation that you or I would go on. They fly out their friends on private jets, rent expensive villas and yachts, have their stylists assemble entire wardrobe rotations for them, and bring along videographers to put together training compilations shot on drones and capture BTS content of their nights out (or in).
There’s no doubt in my mind* that the team who led the Premier League this summer with their off-season fashion game was none other than Arsenal. It’s no coincidence that Arsenal leads the way in this regard. It has long been a club that has leaned closer to culture, and in recent years has organically (unlike some, ahem, Chelsea) built smart partnerships in the world of fashion, with the likes of Stella McCartney, Labrum London, Aries, Maharishi, 424 and several others.
(*Disclaimer: I’m an Arsenal fan and highly biased on this matter. Enjoy!)
Its players, too, have long enjoyed adjacency to the fashion industry. Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, for example, are close friends and collaborators of streetwear juggernaut Aimé Leon Dore. Anyway, let’s dive in.
Arsenal @ Wimbledon
There’s no doubt that Wimbledon had a moment this year. It transcended tennis in ways it has never before and truly reached new audiences.
One such audience was Premier League players, who flocked to Wimbledon to soak up some off-season sun and hang out with Carlos Alcaraz (who seems to be every athlete’s favorite athlete right now). Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber were two people who did just that.
The pair pulled up to center court in a relaxed but stylish take on Wimbledon-themed dressing. Timber was in a long-sleeved Miu Miu polo top, and Saka was in a sand-coloured linen shirt, cream trousers, and boat shoes. (Special mention to Arsenal youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly, who also enjoyed a cute day out at Wimbledon with his Mum.)
Their Newcastle rival, Anthony Gordon, who has plagued Arsenal on the pitch in recent seasons, gets a shout out here as he was also in attendance at the All England Club. His Wimbledon outfit took a more traditional approach, with a cream colored blazer, a black tie and trousers and a pair of sunglasses. I respect the commitment to the formal attire and also the fact that it doubles up as a good mob boss look.
Bukayo Saka in NYC (and Norway)
Bukayo Saka is a man who has been in a rich vein of form both off and on the football pitch for many years at this point. His Wimbledon showing was no anomaly. He put together a string of great off-season fits this summer.
In June, Saka headed out to Norway with his partner Tolami Benson, to attend the wedding of his close friend and teammate, Martin Ødegaard. It turns out he was holding off on going too formal at Wimbledon to save it all for the wedding appearance, where he pulled up wearing full black-tie, and looked good while he was at it.
The next stop on the Saka off-season adventures? He flew to New York City before heading to Florida for some warm-weather training. While in the Big Apple, he blessed us with a carousel of street style pictures from a very good outfit day, showing him strolling around Times Square, jumping in cabs and even taking selfies with the driver.
His outfit of choice was a cream shirt worn over a vest and paired with dark navy blue jorts and Birkenstocks. Relaxed shirting was definitely a running theme this summer for footballers on their off-season breaks (as we will see later), and very few did it better than Bukayo, from the stands of Wimbledon to the streets of NYC.
Myles Lewis-Skelly at Paris Fashion Week
Myles Lewis-Skelly had a great summer. He signed a bumper new contract after a breakthrough season for Arsenal and England. He took his Mum to Wimbledon.
He also starred at Paris Fashion Week, after being cast by celebrated menswear designer Grace Wales Bonner (a long-time collaborator of German sportswear giant Adidas, which also sponsors Lewis-Skelly and Arsenal) to walk in her brand’s fashion week show in June. It was an impressive runway debut, which he took to with the same poise and ease as he did when breaking into the Arsenal first team and helping them reach the semi-finals of the Champions League months before.
He strutted confidently down the runway oozing quintessential Wales Bonner menswear elegance, in a relaxed, open neck tailored shirt and black suit pants.
Previously, he also posted a round up of his time in Paris with some interesting BTS pics, including the show casting, some other strong fashion week fits and a wholesome snap with Wales Bonner herself.
Martin Ødegaard and Kai Havertz on Brocation
As I said earlier, this was the summer that the boys decided open shirts over white vests was the move. Arsenal besties Ødergaard and Havertz put on a perfect display of this while on vacation together after the former’s wedding.
Honourable Mentions
HÉCTOR BELLERÍN
The OG pioneer of post-Beckham football style doesn’t pop up these days in the fashion world in the same way that he did in his early Arsenal days. He’s happily enjoying life back in his native Spain, playing for Real Betis. That doesn’t mean he can’t still pull off a crazy fit when the occasion calls for it.
REISS NELSON
Among a crop of Arsenal youngsters who were disciples of Bellerín a few years back when they broke into the first team, Nelson — styled by the incredible Algen Hamilton who also styles Joe Willock and Kai Havertz — has long been a fashion kid. He also is a budding photographer and has been taking cues from his mentor, the legendary Simon Wheatly. After the season ended (which Nelson spent on loan at Fulham), it was revealed he’d been commissioned by German footwear giant Birkenstock to make his debut as a creative director on a campaign for British streetwear retailer END.
JOE WILLOCK
The former Arsenal player — now playing for Newcastle — who came up through the youth ranks with Nelson, made his debut at Paris Fashion Week, after he was cast by Guillermo Andrade for his brand 424’s runway show.