Met Gala invitation or not, ‘football is fashion’ in the women’s game
· Yahoo Sports
The first Monday in May may not hold much significance in the world of football, but in the fashion realm, it may as well be the World Cup.
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Every year on that date, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City hosts the Met Gala, a grandiose fundraiser for its Costume Institute where hundreds of A-list celebrities across the film and television, fashion, and art worlds converge for a night of self-indulgent glamour. The event doubles as the official unveiling of the institute’s newest exhibition, the theme of which — in this case, “Costume Art” — informing the event’s dress code as well.
Beyoncé, Venus Williams, Nicole Kidman, and former Vogue magazine editor-in-chief Anna Wintour co-chaired this year’s Met Gala, setting the tone for the event and curating the coveted guest list. The dress code was “Fashion is Art,” a directive loose enough to elicit myriad interpretations but focused enough to guarantee entertaining looks to carry the evening. Heidi Klum went as a sculpture, working with Oscar-nominated makeup artist Mike Marino to recreate the “Veiled Vestal” by Raffaele Monti. Fellow supermodel Anok Yai also opted for a literal expression of the statuesque nature of her work, dressed as a Black Madonna in Balenciaga. Olympic figure skating gold medalist Alysa Liu took a creative approach with her sanguine Louis Vuitton gown, the tightly wound ruffles of her skirt emulating the muscle tissue she relies on daily to practice her art.
According to the Met’s announcement from February, the theme is meant to “examine the centrality of the dressed body, juxtaposing garments and works of art from across the museum’s vast collection to create pairings that not only illuminate the indivisible connection between clothing and the body but also the complex interplay between artistic representations of the body and fashion as an embodied artform.”
Is that not football at its best, whether the canvas is a grassy pitch or a leatherbound boot stroking a ball like a paintbrush?
Football is Fashion
Megan Rapinoe’s attendance at the 2021 Met Gala felt like turning a corner after years of virtually no presence of the women’s game on fashion’s biggest night. Dressed in a fiery red silk Sergio Hudson pantsuit with a blue star-spangled button-down shirt and, crucially, a blue enamel clutch emblazoned with “America” on one side and “In Gay We Trust on the other, the two-time World Cup winner interpreted that year’s “American Independence” theme with the audacious irony for which she is known. (To her credit, Alex Morgan appeared at the 2016 Met Gala in a stunning if not standard white embellished Cristian Siriano gown for that year’s “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” assignment.)
Five years on from Rapinoe’s Met Gala, women’s football doesn’t appear to have wedged its boot much further into this hyper-exclusive corner of the fashion world. And that might be OK for now, because its influence might still be the most potent it’s ever been.
Let’s begin with the fact that more female professional footballers are earning respectable wages than ever before, thanks in part to the U.S. women’s national team’s successful fight for equal pay and the latest collective bargaining agreement in the National Women’s Soccer League. There is still plenty of room to grow in the latter; the league’s minimum salary cap this year is $50,500, and it will increase to $82,500 by 2030. Not quite the tax bracket to fill one’s closet with designer labels without serious sponsorship backing, but that’s enough money to be able to invest in one’s look in some markets.
Football’s equivalent of the Met’s grand steps is Clairefontaine, France’s national training center about 30 miles southwest of Paris. The path leading up to the facility transforms into a runway each international window, and the French women’s national team stun every single time.
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There’s also the inevitable trendsetting of global superstars like Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas. Between the Spanish midfielder’s relaxed confidence and exceptional accomplishments on the pitch (she surpassed Messi as the most decorated Barcelona player in club history), is more than enough to convince the average mortal that they, too, can pull up to a match in a fur-trimmed leather hat.
Making a Met Gala appearance is a tough task for most female footballers this time of year. European leagues are entering the crucial final phases of their seasons, and the NWSL is ramping up. (But it can be done, as demonstrated by Rapinoe, Morgan, and the growing list of professional athletes gracing the gala in the midst of their seasons, like Met Gala host committee member A’ja Wilson.) That hasn’t stopped fashion-forward footballers from partaking in their own ways.
Last September, Australian forward Mary Fowler, who plays for Manchester City, became the first female footballer to walk a Paris Fashion Week show when she took to the catwalk for Loréal Paris. Arsenal and England Lioness captain Leah Williamson attended Burberry’s Autumn/Winter show in February for London Fashion Week and was dressed by Simone Beyene, stylist of Olivia Dean. A few weeks later, Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Sakina Karchaoui sat for Sacai, an avant-garde luxury brand.
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On paper, the French captain wore the fundamental elements of any athlete’s wardrobe: a matching set with relaxed legs, sleek ponytail, and leather boots — but the magic was in the details, like the stiletto heel of her leather-bound boots shaped like diamonds.
And if a player’s schedule is too packed for an event, there’s always the fit tunnel. The pregame ritual has provided NWSL players in particular with the space to assert themselves as fashion figures. Gotham FC veteran Mandy Freeman is distinct here, along with her teammate and USWNT midfielder Jaedyn Shaw, Angel City midfielder and Japan international Jun Endo, Washington Spirit and USWNT forward Trinity Rodman, and Chicago Stars fullback and Nigeria international Michelle Alozie, who is intentional about spotlighting West African designers in the looks she puts together.
Any of the aforementioned players receiving an invitation to the Met Gala would be as momentous as Rapinoe’s — but their approaches to fashion already carry so much influence that they should not be considered crowning achievements. Their styles, much like their personalities on the pitch, will continue to influence the game either way.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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