Football shirts sponsored by fashion labels always promise to be a little special and Macron’s Bologna away kit certainly does not disappoint.
Saturday night’s Serie A clash with Sampdoria may have resulted in a 4-1 drubbing for Filippo Inzaghi’s men, but Bologna still caught the eye of those with a nose for classic Calcio clobber.
Bologna’s shirts beautifully bestow the club’s rossoblu colours neatly across the shoulders of a white shirt, where every detail seems to be cut and crafted to perfection. The kits are sponsored by Italian fashionistas Liu Jo, a brand best known for making high-heel shoes and handbags, whilst utility provider Illumia takes a position on the back.
Right down to the classic v-neck collar and sleeves that finish with the same dark blue and red shades of their familiar home kits, these shirts are everything that’s good about Italian football shirt design in modern performance fabrics.
Bologna’s badge, set in the oval shape synonymous with Serie A styling features the stripes of the club’s home strip along with the red cross on white background taken from the city’s coat of arms.
Seven-time Italian title winners Bologna have a rich history dating back to 1909 and were founder members of Serie A in 1929, so Macron had plenty of material to inspire this year’s designs and wisely settled on a re-working of their 1980-81 away kit.
Those lucky enough to remember World Cup Italia ’90 will remember Bologna’s Stadio Renato Dall’Ara as the scene of David Platt’s last-gasp pivoting volley that gave England victory over Belgium.
Overall, Macron have served up a football shirt so good it doesn’t need to be worn in a football environment to be appreciated. It passes the “worn with jeans” test with flying colours.
Although Saturday night offered 90 minutes to forget for fans of I Vetri (the Greyhounds), they can at least console themselves that they are the latest club to pick-up our quietly prestigious Kit of the Week title.
Scant consolation indeed!
Sartorial Soccer 