There’s no denying fashion has become the ultimate spectator sport – Lyas’ watch parties, anyone?
For a similar kind of fervor, sense of community and widespread infiltration of “team merch” into daily wear, soccer, or football as Europeans call it, is the place to look.
It’s that train of thought that Kei Ninomiya followed for the sophomore collection of Dover Street Market Kei Ninomiya, the new brand he is designing under the retail emporium’s brand development umbrella.
Where his Noir label is all about pushing the boundaries of clothes and how to make them, “this brand has more of a focus on people and a focus on community,” he told WWD on a call from Tokyo. “It’s [like] clothes for industry people or something like that.”
After exploring the idea of a collegiate uniform for spring – school crest, striped tie and all – he leaned further into the sense of belonging and come-one, come-all openness of soccer fandom.
In the lineup were T-shirts marked with the names of various Dover Street Market outposts where an athlete’s last name would be, and the year the store opened as player numbers; thick sports jersey tops with the retailer’s house-shaped logo stretched into pseudo stripes, and nylon blousons with a succession of suede and ribbed cuffs that gave sleeves a little va-va-voom.
Also in the mix were wide-leg trousers, cut from the kind of thick velvet or cotton slub jersey you’d use on tracksuits, and fun accessories such as team scarves or socks listing all the outposts with the years, like championship wins.
With the season’s desirable daily kit, Ninomiya landed it squarely in the back of the net.
