Not many elite footballers make it into the menswear big league, but, over the years, there’s a select few who have. David Beckham. Héctor Bellerín. Marcus Rashford. Right now, though, the player in the fashion spotlight is the Norwegian striker Erling Haaland – especially since his recent trip to Rome to attend Dolce & Gabbana’s two fashion shows.
In the Italian capital, alongside girlfriend Isabel Haugseng Johansen, he was spotted in monochrome dressing – not once, but twice.
The first outfit was a white single-breasted blazer with matching flowy wide-leg trousers and a cream silky shirt which he wore to attend the Italian designer’s Alta Moda show.
The second, which he wore for the Alta Sartoria show, a silky grey high-neck top with tonal straight trousers. All by Dolce, naturally.
He’s proving his unbelievable tekkers beyond the pitch.
Even though his 6’5” height and Norse god looks give him a strong head start when it comes to clothes looking good, the pieces he chooses show he’s a menswear pro.
The colour palette is good for his skin tone. The wide leg trousers compliment his body shape. It’s smart but relaxed. Cool but not try-hard. And, in both cases, he’s schooling us in how to wear monochrome.
Besides the obvious – wearing clothes which are all the same colour – there are some key lessons to be learnt. First of all, not everything is identical colour-wise.
Sure, it’s all pretty close, but even the slightest difference adds dimension: the off-white shirt or lilac-tone trousers, for instance. Then, it’s about accessories. A monochrome full-look can look flat, so you can lift it with the right accoutrements.
In the Manchester City striker’s case it’s with a metal collar necklace and textured shoes in one instance and with a chain brooch and tonal loafers in the other – without forgetting his trademark black shades.
What sets him apart, though, is that he’s not afraid to push boundaries of hardcore masculinity which some footballers abide by.
Like the well-dressed players before him – be it Becks in a sarong or Calvert-Lewin’s collection of colourful handbags – he’s not afraid to experiment. This time, it’s his tops made using a traditionally womenswear-y fabrics which gives him big style gains.
So, it seems like his looks are becoming just as impressive as his goal-scoring record (100 goals for Man City within 105 appearances, the quickest player ever to reach 75 Premier League goals, the most goals in one season in all competitions by a Premier League player etc.) – and we don’t think he’s going to let the team down any time soon.