Gareth Southgate, new king of smart casual and the strategy behind his £45 M&S knitted polo
Who wants the Gareth Southgate look? The England manager might have quietened his critics following the Lions’ victory over the Netherlands last night, but the verdict is still out on his Euros 2024 style.
As football fans well know, Southgate is a man of uniform. Following the footsteps of Mark Zuckerberg, Coco Chanel, Steve Jobs and Fran Lebowitz, it is in his consistency that he finds his sartorial strength.
2018’s waistcoat fever, which erupted thanks to his constant sporting of a three-piece suit, was something to behold — a £65 M&S number which went on to rocket off the shelves.
Fashion certainly followed his lead on this front; the waistcoat is the cement-staple of summer 2024 wardrobes (see: The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri, Gigi Hadid, Uma Thurman etc). Did the Watford-born, former Middlesbrough player, make it on the Bottega Veneta moodboard? There’s no denying his role as contemporary pioneer of the fad, anyhow. And as any good influencer knows, when the masses start adopting a trend — it’s time to move onto the next.
So behold Southgate’s aggressively smart casual new era (anyone in mourning for his Savile Row-inflicted getup need only head to James Graham's Olivier-Award winning smash-hit play Dear England, where it is memorialised). Also from M&S — official tailor to the England team since 2007 — his substitute top is the 100 per cent cotton, “milano” knitted white ¼ zip polo shirt, complete with a silver hardware zip (which, per M&S, “adds a touch of sporty sophistication” – ok!) and a latte-coloured sliver on each short-sleeve trim. Fans have said it “looks designer”.
Aside from everyone stealing his style, he reasoned his waistcoat swerve telling GQ in May: “This year, it will be more short-sleeved knits than a suit and tie, because we’re trying to create a relaxed environment… When you’re working with young lads, you don't want to be too stiff – in what you’re doing or wearing.”
It's working. And while the actual top — part of the M&S X England collection — is sold out, there is a non-zip iteration (less “sporty sophistication”, sob) as well as a mainline style for £28.
There’s no doubt it will go down a treat when the clock strikes 8pm on Sunday — and it might even hit the catwalks later this year.
