Chelsea's latest big-money signing is Italian fashion guru Giorgio
Armani, who has designed their official club suits.
Chelsea have been accused in some quarters of lacking a little
class since Roman Abramovich banrolled their elevation to
football's top table. But the club based on London's fashionable
Kings Road are not lacking in the style department.
Now famed Italian fashion guru Giorgio Armani has linked up with
the Premiership giants to design their official club suits.
In an interview with Chelsea's official club magaine, Mr Armani
explains:
I believe footballers are todays new style leaders. Unlike others
in the public arena, footballers are unique in the fact that they
have to show an acute combination of mental and physical discipline
which makes them genuinely heroic.
As a distillation of what makes the likes of Lamps, JT, SWeeP and
Sheva tick, that's almost poetic.
And Armani adds another insight: If they feel good about how they
look when they arrive for a game, that will boost their overall
confidence as they prepare to take to the field.
The press release that announced Chelsea's bid to win the sartorial
premier league title described Blues' manager Jose Mourinhoin
Hollywood terms, saying:
"The heart-throb Stamford Bridge boss Jose Mourinho, a long-time
Armani enthusiast, is rumoured to have taken time out of his busy
schedule to personally oversee every sketch and fabric."
It contined: "Armani says of Mourinho: 'He has a great sense of
style and I am pleased that he appreciates my designs and chooses
to wear them'."
And to underline that this is no fleeting liaison or, indeed,
passing fashion fad, the Directors Suite at Stamford Bridge has
also been redesigned by the Piacenza-born style guru and famed
Inter Milan fan, and is to be renamed The Armani Lounge in his
honour.
The press release was also accompanied by a photograph (shown
above) of Chelsea's style council in Reservoir Dogs-style pose:
from left to right Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Michael Esien, Claudio
Pizarro and Ricardo Carvalho.
