Milan is one of the “big four” cities in the world of fashion.
While Paris is known for its impeccable sense of style, New York for sporty wearability, and London for multiculturalism, Milan is known for its unbeatable Italian charm.
Versace and Prada are some of fashion’s most popular brands and absolute symbols of luxury that originated in this city.
Given the city’s affiliation with fashion, it only makes sense that AC Milan are the club setting new fashion trends in the world of football.
Their past partnerships with companies like Paper Planes show just that.
With the club’s current association with fashion brand, Harmont & Blaine terminating after two seasons reports in Italy last month said that AC Milan was about to introduce Off-White as their new ‘Style Partner’ for the 2022–23 season.
About Off-White
Off-White is another luxury brand based out of Milan and was founded in 2012 by the late American designer Virgil Abloh.
The brand has quickly gained enormous popularity on the streetwear scene and has become a mainstay in many footballers’ wardrobes.
Off-White and Virgil have both previously been involved in the football industry.
In 2018, Virgil unveiled his “Football, Mon Amour” collection with Nike, which included warm-up jackets, goalkeeper gloves, and football jerseys.
They also have a special collaboration already released with PSG and France international Kylian Mbappe.
The Off-White and AC Milan partnership
The collaboration is now official. The AC Milan men’s and women’s teams will each receive designer clothes as part of the agreement.
The men’s squad debuted their brand-new official attire on Tuesday as they arrived at their Champions League away game in London.
The first Off-White x AC Milan item, which is seen to be a double-breasted suit in a grey colour, was teased in an image that AC Milan released alongside the formal announcement.
The suit was worn by first team manager Stefano Pioli, who was spotted getting off the bus in London.
The rest of the squad wore Off-White Varsity Jackets specially designed for the team.
The jacket is cream-coloured with white sleeves and has a lot of details, which we break down below.
Starting from the front, on the right side, we can see the letters ACM on a trident.
The trident, which is a symbol for the devil that AC Milan are often associated with, has 7 stars, referring to the 7 Champions League titles – 5 in the UCL era and 2 before. The ACM stands for, as is obvious, AC Milan.
On the left side is the letter O in classic Varsity font. The O stands for Off-White.
On the bottom half of the O, we can see “Rossoneri” embossed, which is a nickname for the club that translates to The Red and Blacks.
Below the O and the Trident, all of AC Milan’s honours are showcased and embossed.
On the backside, a Devil, referring to Milan’s other nickname Diavolo, is seen holding up the trademark Off-White logo.
“Abloh” is printed on both the front and back of the jacket, paying respects to the founder of the company.
On the right sleeve is a slit window design with the words Off-White, Virgil Abloh, AC Milan and 2013© printed. 2013 is when the brand was renamed to “Off-White”, changing from its previous name Pyrex Vision.
On the other arm, the player’s number is embossed, showing how each jacket is tailor-made for the players.
Below that are the letters ACM and a red badge which says any one of the dialogues from the teaser video. For example, Leao’s badge says “I support young talent”. Fitting.
Moving on from the jackets, the players all wore the white Off-White Out of Office “OoO” shoes, which are a sight to behold in themselves.
They’re available for $416 on the official website.
Alongside this, they were all wearing matching Black Off-White tees and grey pants to finish the incredibly drippy look.
This is not all though. The bus which transported Milan’s players was also branded. On its side, we can see “PLAYERS INSIDE” written.
This may seem very basic on the surface level, but is a reference to the double-quoted trend that can be seen in a lot of Off-White collabs, where the quoted word is just stating something obvious.
For example, all Off-White x Nike shoes have the words “AIR” printed on the side and “SHOELACES” printed on the shoelaces, whereas purses have the words “CASH INSIDE” printed on them.
On the other side of the bus was the classic logo and the AC Milan badge with the Diavolo around it.
This collaboration has just begun, but it’s already taking the internet by storm.
The luxury brand has gone above and beyond and dropped some of the best football and fashion collaborations we have seen lately.
Others better watch out and step their game up if they want to match the Milan club, at least OFF the field.
