The LostEleganceOf Football Jerseys
In 1970 I celebrated nike air max 90 womens white perhaps the greatest accomplishment of my young life.
I collected the entire set of World Cup soccer cards. It took all my pocket money and hours of painful playground negotiation. (Any other Brits of a certain age might remember that England defender Emlyn Hughes was an especially tough get.) And somewhere along the way I fell in love with a soccer shirt.
Peru's uniform that year was elegant and its team was pretty good as well. The shirt featured a red diagonal stripe on a plain white shirt, a collar that was retro even in 1970, and therewasn'ta sportswear manufacturer's logo in sight.
To this day, I still think it's the beautiful game's most beautiful shirt.
Good luck finding a logoless shirt today. Perhaps the fiercest World Cup competition of all is between Puma, Adidas and Nike, air max women who equip the majority of teams in South Africa.
Fortunately, designers can't mess with tradition too much. Holland's orange "home" shirts are nike air max 2014 womens pink as much part of the country's national identity as windmills and tulips.
England wear white at "home" and red "away," and when a sportswear company debuted a grey England shirt in the 1990's a nation choked on its beer. And if Brazil took the field in fusia rather than nike air max 2015 men gold, it would be as shocking as discovering the women on Copacabana beach wearing one piece, Victorian bathing costumes.
Confined largely to tweaking classic designs, of the sportwear industry have exercised restraint in 2010. Most of the innovation is nike air max 2015 men in the high tech materials designed to enhance performance. But there are a few sartorial misfires.
France has a fussy collection of stripes on both shoulders and chest, Denmark's shirts have a peculiar pattern that looks like a demented game of tournament.
As for the best overall designs "home" and "away," I give the nod to Nike's creation for Portugal the "home" shirt is a tasteful riff on tradition, while its "away" uniform has designer flair.