Now, England's prestigious Premier League championship was won for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year by Manchester City on May 19th. That is, by the energetic Catalan super-tactician Josep “Pep” Guardiola Sala and his talented and cheerful band of famous players in Europe, we will be introduced to Guardiola's main stars in the coming weeks. , namely Erling Haaland, genius Phil Foden, midfielder Kyle Walker, and a series of truly great off-duty men's style fashion moments from players who will never be. At least Jack Grealish, Man City's most party-loving player, is pictured above pouring beer on the field just after being presented with the Premier League trophy.
For Manchester City players, pouring alcohol in any form or amount on Grealish has become a totemic ritual. This comes as no surprise as it was also Grealish who set the standard for three parties during the same post-Championship break in 2023. -The week's continental bender was so epic that it became known in British drinking parlance as the 'full Grealish'. Incidentally, Grealish moved to Manchester from Aston Villa in 2021 on a six-year deal worth $127 million and has become a central cog in manager Pep Guardiola's well-oiled dreadnoughts. .But that's his game and His off-duty wit – his “lifestyle” to put it diplomatically – has landed him squarely in the hearts of Mantunians.
This year, the championship dinner on May 19th was held at Manchester's glamorous standby FENIX (sic), with the afterparty reportedly lasting until 5am on May 20th. Always a fashion plate, Grealish was wearing a 'playsuit' with his trademark print.''Gucci is involved in the incident, which reportedly retails for more than $2,500. Playsuits have become a popular trend among athletes over the past few years, especially as worn by American football star and current Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce (pictured below).
The trick with a playsuit is that it features a (somewhat) traditional set of pants, but it also has a matching suit jacket, which in the 70s was called a “shirt jack” or shirt cut jacket. It is made of the same suit material as the trousers and is similar to a jean jacket, but longer. The current iteration of the men's playsuit owes in no small part to the costumes of several Bond villains, particularly that of Rosa Kleb, the head of the Spectre, played by the legendary Lotte Lenya (aka Mrs. Kurt Weill). The second Bond movie, From Russia with love. Klebb, an Austrian-American anti-fascist and immigrant actress, is pictured below on set in 1963, wearing a dashing shirt jacket and a regulation SPECTRE skirt.
Below is a shot of Grealish, a “rather poorly worn” fashion plate, as the British tabloid puts it, emerging from Ibiza's famous Ocean Beach Club wearing his favorite Gucci print suit . Climate-appropriate matching shorts on the morning of July 6, 2023, after a celebration with some selected team-mates of Man City's history-making 'Treble' victory. Grealish is also a fan of sliders day and night. We can't say for sure, but this pair appears to be Gucci as well. Mann Style Notes: A true football star, whether on the field or off, is by definition always on his way to and from his locker room, and there are no shoes in his locker room other than sliders.
Regardless, Grealish should get a lot of credit for pairing his slider with cozy white socks. First, contrasting socks bring a nice locker room vibe to your evening look. Secondly, after a long party, it refracts light to ensure that the footing of the dim dawn is enhanced, regardless of whether the man can see his footing or not. Thirdly, in Grealish's case, when he was 10 years old, his mother told him on the way to a match that wearing white socks would protect him from the scourge of athlete's foot. I suspect that it is.
The gentlemen on either side of Grealish are in charge of casting the central characters and ensuring that the onboarding transfer process runs smoothly as prized players leave famous nightclubs and board waiting Mercedes SUVs. He may not have legs at this moment, but those legs are a $127 million product, after all.
For the record, and for a sense of the grueling exercise regime of Grealish's 2023 Championship bender, below is from July 7th, or about 24 hours after the photo above, wearing yet another playsuit and yet another A shot of a midfielder heading to a nightclub. It's a three-quarter sleeve shirt jacket with the front of the shirt boldly open.
Without a doubt, this is the most manly and confident way to wear a playsuit, and as we often say in the rug industry, a sparkling white bucket topper with matching trademark white socks brings the outfit together. The message there is that Grealish went on a date at Ibiza's Ushuaia club and it was his abs that ended up wearing this outfit.
In the deepest sense, style-wise, the key detail about Grealish and his unflinching strength during his multi-week off-duty death march fashion show last year is that he proved he could do the walk of shame for weeks on end. Just a little bit of shame. What more could you ask for from an off-season Peacock Stratman style? Nothing. Right down to his carefully selected Beckham-style bleach highlights, Jack Grealish is an impeccably dressed man.
Below is a fascinating photo taken by a paparazzi of him leaving a club in Ushuaia hours later, which was never talked about or reported. Sadly, he seems to have lost his white bucket, which he doesn't seem particularly concerned about, but we can hope that his omnipresent bodyguard is okay.
In contrast to Grealish, Man City striker Erling Haaland and his long-time stablemate Isabel Hausen-Johansen are more subdued, but still coiled, lions at rest The off-duty image is shown below. Haaland's somewhat troubled look in the evening eyewear department also appeared at the Dolce & Gabbano event in Bari, Italy last July, after Manchester City won the Premier League, Football Association Cup and Champions League. Regardless, the pair looked quite admirable. Notice Haaland's fine V-neck T-shirt under his ultra-crisp Dolce & Gabbana sky blue double-breasted shirt. The point is, in the land of men's style football stars, collared shirts aren't high on the list of wardrobe staples. The boys love their team kit and the nation agrees with that. After all, they are used to taking off field tees to celebrate goals.
For American readers, the stylistic obsession with tee shirts in European soccer means the role played by Steve Jobs in his sneaky black tee, who almost completely destroyed the collared shirt with a powerful assist from Issey Miyake. It is important to note that there is no relationship. American business shirt. Few of Europe's famous baseball players know who Steve Jobs is, much less the template for men's fashion he set beyond Silicon Valley. For them, wearing a T-shirt under a business jacket or blazer is more about toning the body. Laissez-faire The wonders of the Cote d'Azur and the Costa del Sol. And yes, the tee always comes off easily, so we'll be looking for it more as the offseason progresses beyond the European Cup in Germany in June and July.
But like his beloved teammate Grealish and dozens of other sports stars, Haaland has been coordinating, down to his matching sliders, with the exception of the white socks accessory, which Grealish is concerned about. There's no doubt that you're a fan of men's style playsuits. What raises some questions about Haaland is not the babyman blue, but the unfortunate quilted fabric of this particular coord. Was it a fabric that Mr. Johansen valued somehow? We think otherwise. This particular paparazzi grab, like Grealish's, was filmed in Ibiza in June 2023, and it is unclear whether Ms Johansen was with her on that trip. Apparently he is working with her cronies except for her. But it doesn't matter if this particular playsuit is trucked out this offseason.
Importantly, European soccer is a step or two away from the national team championship in Germany in mid-summer, but the off-season has begun. Playsuits and sliders for men are popping up everywhere.