Contemporaries of the Denisot era will sell you the poster as a great classic of blue and red history, to be placed alongside Barça and Real. In reality, PSG and AC Milan, who will meet this evening at the Parc des Princes in the Champions League, have only faced each other four times in the European Cup. The first two in 1994-95 during a C1 semi-final dominated by the Capello gang (3-0 in the two matches). The other two, less known, in the group stage of the 2000-2001 edition (two draws). After promising beginnings, the legend of this clash from which PSG never emerged victorious remains to be written. For this to happen, its two protagonists would have to have their moments of greatness coincide, which, so far, has only happened once, 18 years ago.
In the meantime, we must turn to the great couturiers and the Fashion Week catwalks to see Paris and Milan pulling out all the stops. Both cities claim to be fashion capitals – London and New York too, but no one believes it. City of Light advantage, assure connoisseurs like Serge Carreira, lecturer at Sciences Po, fashion and luxury specialist:
Milan is truly the capital of Italian fashion, with a real tradition but also a very important industrial network. Paris is in a way the platform for international fashion, with designers coming from all over the world and of course Parisian fashion houses. There is a more global dimension to Paris, Milan being more the showcase of this Italian fashion. »
However, Parisian supremacy has not always seemed obvious. The shift would even be recent according to Marc Beaugé, fashion guarantor of Quotidien, at the origin of the magazine The label : “Paris won the battle thanks to the large, dominant French groups like LVMH or Keringla. The great era of Milan, with Dolce, Versace and Armani at the top, was around twenty years ago.” Not for nothing that Netflix parachuted Emily Cooper into Place Vendôme rather than into the Vittorio Emanuele II gallery, whatever one thinks of the series.
Elegance, an integral part of AC Milan’s identity
On the football side, and despite several appearances at Paris Fashion Week (Koché in 2017, Manish Arora in 2018 and Louis-Gabriel Nouchi in 2020), PSG (QSI era) has long snubbed its haute couture heritage in favor of streetwear-oriented collaborations, like the partnership with Jordan, before readjust the slider a little more recently. Since 2021, Paris Saint-Germain has been dressed by Dior, and the players’ street outfits are directly “designed” by Kim Jones, the Artistic Director of Dior’s men’s collections.
Insufficient to come close to AC Milan, which reeks of elegance and charisma over several generations, as Marc Beaugé recalls. “When we talk about footballers in suits I have images of AC Milan players that come to mind but very few of Paris Saint-Germain. I spontaneously think of Baresi, Costacurta, Maldini, Pirlo, Berlusconi too. Milan is a city of masculine elegance, it trickles down to the club, obviously. The club’s current outfit with Off White is successful. Very clean, very discreet, the result is rather good. »
The high-end streetwear brand succeeds Diesel and Dolce Gabbana. In 2011, the latter had greatly exploited the chic reputation of the Rossonera institution by having Zlatan, Pato and Gattuso pose in costume for the renowned photographer Marco Falcetta. A book – Milan Fashion Soccer Players Portraits – will be born from this shooting.
It’s one thing to have a nice suit, you still have to know how to wear it. “In the series on David Beckham, famous Serge Carreira, there is an episode where one of the players comments on one of his first big outings for the English national team. Everyone wore a costume. And the point was ”David Beckham was the only one to wear the suit well, to have a well-tailored suit, we looked like clowns. » “Desailly said that when he arrived in Milan, he was taught to tie his tie properly, to wear a suit,” continues Marc Beaugé. It matters in Italy. In Milan we see a lot of men wearing suits, this is less the case in Paris. » Indeed, unless you take the metro to La Défense… but who dreams of the flow of a senior manager at the Engie tower?
Mbappé and Leão darling of the brands
At the Parc as at San Siro, fashion has gone far beyond the simple framework of collective partnerships. Many players embrace their fashionista side and are dressed by the big houses when they are not creating their own brand (a mention for the flop of Beau Goss, that of Marquinhos). No one will be surprised to learn that Kylian Mbappé is one of the darlings of couturiers and other style artisans: he has collaborated with Dior and Oakley glasses, among others. His Portuguese double from Milan, Rafael Leão, recently worked with Arte Antwerp, a house also specialized in high-end streetwear, for a result, let’s say it, rather classy.
There are also bad students: for example, history will hasten to forget Théo Hernandez’s red and black leopard costume at the Dolce & Gabbana fashion show (Milan Fashion Week 2022). Same for his former teammate Samu Castillejo and his striped and gold outfit not to be shown in any fashion design school (Fashion Week 2020). These notable fashion faux pas show the limits of players in an environment that they still have little control over.
“I see footballers more as victims of fashion, eager to display the signs of modern wealth and to display recognized logos, than as true fashion enthusiasts,” Beaugé theorizes. It would surprise me if behind their way of dressing, there was research work to find out who designed a particular costume, to find the lesser-known designer or to hunt for beautiful vintage pieces. They are rich and consume like rich people, so they drive big cars, flaunt expensive watches and wear fashion, it’s all part of the package. But, overall, it doesn’t smell of passion and culture. » Ouch.
Parisians vs Milanese, who has the better flow?
Once the context is established, we must deliberate. In 2023, who from Paris Saint-Germain or AC Milan has the best look off the field? 20 minutes called on the expertise of Sofiane, aka L’Interiste, known on X (formerly Twitter) for his threads evaluating the outfits worn by the players of the France team upon their arrival at Clairefontaine.
- Giroud vs Mbappé, the attackers
“Kylian, it’s Nike, Nike, same color top and pants. He tries to be simple, it contrasts with his game and his star status. A status that he regains when he puts on his sunglasses. There, he’s the star. »
“Giroud, it’s a shame… We feel like he’s classy but he wears ripped slim jeans. He is 36 years old and wears the outfits of either a teenager or a reality TV star, whereas at Arsenal, when he was dressed by the club, he was clean and classy. He has the personality to adopt a much classier style. »
Victory Kylian Mbappé (1-0 PSG)
- Hakimi vs Théo Hernandez, the full-backs
“Hakimi has been very interested in fashion since his arrival in Paris. We see him on Insta, he tries on outfits, loose things, tight things, etc. He’s doing much better than some, and now we can say, he’s very stylish. He has more and more flow. It’s obvious that he’s into fashion. »
“Theo Hernandez wears Spanish style outfits, like Desigual. He always dresses loose, jogging, t-shirt that sticks out from the sweater, it’s a paella style. He can’t break away from it even though he’s in a city like Milan. The problem is that he doesn’t care, he goes out as if he were still in Madrid. »
Hakimi victory (2-0 PSG)
- Nuno Mendes vs Rafael Leão the flow of Lisbon
“Nuno, you have to see how he wears the blouse in the infirmary. More seriously, Mendes has a very Parisian flow. He adapted immediately to the Ile-de-France culture, sweater, little jean jacket. It’s not fashion week fashion but everyday Parisian fashion. It’s simple, effective, but against Leão it’s not enough. »
“Leão is simple, everything suits him. When you see him, you say to yourself ‘he knows how to dress’. He manages to enhance each item of clothing. He highlights the outfit, he always has the little cut, the little accessory, the little smile that goes well, like when he scores. This is the best. »
Victory Leão
> Final score, 2-1, PSG wins the Fashion Week Supercup failing to win the C1.