European fashion designer Dirk Bikkembergs, a member of the influential Belgian avant-garde designers known as the “Antwerp Six”, has agreed to partner with Toronto FC for a two-year term. The designer, who was once the official designer for Inter Milan, will dress the MLS team for all of its official appearances.
Clearly, Dirk Bikkembergs is no stranger to football. Since graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Belgium in 1986, the designer has been and continues to be well-regarded in Europe for his unique ability to bring the exclusive fashion world together with the world of football.
Dirk’s early creations were inspired by a certain sense of masculinity, which drew inspiration from the sports world, and in particular football. Bikkembergs first garnered acclaim for his work with men’s footwear in the late 80s and early 90s when his work took stylistic musings from the football boots of the early 1930s. Since then, Dirk has been a trailblazer in the arena of football-inspired high fashion. He was the first designer to hold a fashion show in a football stadium, in the San Siro of all places. He is also the first fashion designer to design his own pair of football boots. Below is the first generation football boot, the “BIX 6″. The “BIX 6″ gave birth to a second generation boot, the “Tirosegno”, which in turn influenced the similarly named sneaker line, Tirosegno Sneakers.
Dirk took his devotion to new levels in 2005 when he bought F.C. Fossombrone (now F.C. Bikkembergs Fossombrone), a local, Italian amateur football club. Dirk revamped the club’s image and finances. Due to his efforts, the club has since been promoted to the Italian Serie D after being crowned Eccellenza Marche winners in the 2008-09 season. In addition to revamping the clubs fortunes, Dirk used his team as a platform for testing fabrics and styles, such as the Tirosegno boots above.
It is great to see that fashion and football don’t have to be mutually exclusive. F.C. Bikkembergs Fossombrone currently sit third in Group D of the Italian Serie D and are only seven points out of first place. The club is clearly going places, and is looking good doing so. Take a look at the video below to see for yourself. Is this team styling or what?
Aw. Soccer’s all grown up. But seriously, the game in the states is moving forward very quickly. Every added professional touch is a step in the right direction.
True. All of this is good for the game. Baby steps are needed. MLS needs the Garber doctrine, not the Abromovich doctrine. Slow and steady. Add a player here, and a stylist there. We’ll get there. Assuming the players don’t strike …
Lads, slow, steady growth was prescribed. “Slow and steady” wins the race was, and continues to be the philosophy at MLS Headquarters.
But how long should the single-entity structure continue?
Fifteen years? Thirty years? Sixty years? One-hundred-twenty years?
The League has reached stability. With its 14 years of existence, MLS no longer can claim to be a startup. Its a mature business with a solid business model ready to join the world’s international community and play by the same rules.
It is time to allow the clubs to set their own courses. It is time for each club and its ownership group to individually and independently compete and find creative ways to sign the best players they can with the budgets they can afford. MLS needs to trust its club teams and realize that they will not make the same mistakes that the NASL committed. They are too smart to repeat the same mistakes of the past.
[...] market. We recently wrote a piece about Toronto F.C.’s collaboration with famed designer Dirk Bikkembergs. Well, we may have our own Dirk right here in New York City (a small town on the outskirts of [...]
[...] fashion design on and off the pitch with articles featuring the works of fashion designers, Dirk Bikkembergs and Stephen Wong. In another illustration of how football serves as creative inspiration for [...]