fashion victims

fashion victims

With a new team kit due to be announced during next summer, it's worth remembering that there's a lot at stake riding on the design. As a general rule the better the Villa kit, the better the Villa team. You want proof ? Here's a quick reminder of how sartorial elegance has played a part in the club's success story over the last twenty-odd years.

The spirit of revolution which in 1968 led to student riots in Paris, the Grosvenor Square demonstrations and the Black Panther movement in Arnerica also spread to Aston. We had a new board led by Doug Ellis, a new manager in Tommy Docherty and a new strip. Luddities please note: When this one was first introduced, some moaned that it was nothing like a traditional Villa shirt. Plus ca change. However, it looked good and such a modem image helped give notice to the world that the Villa were on their way back, years of decay were being replaced by a forward looking club that would soon regain its deserved place.

The kit of the time changed little for over a decade, but such changes as there were just made an improvement. The embryonic Brian Little was emerging as the finest footballer of all time, and the shirt he wore was almost the best ever. Both player and kit paved the way for the pinnacle of achievement.

By 1981 Villa were ready for their finest moments. The photo doesn't do this one justice, and it's a source of wonder how Umbro can have been responsible for both this work of art and the recent Manchester United disasters. Both the shirt and the players who wore it were without equal before or since - Cowans, Mortimer, Shaw, every man a genius And they looked the part as well. Anybody doubting the connection between looking good and playing well should look at this one. Even the away design was perfect. White and with claret and blue diamonds adding a touch of style, even the hardest away game was a formality. Since changing this kit, neither team nor shirt have come remotely close.

With the league title sewn up, Europe beckoned. Unfortunately the classic kit was done away with and replaced by a modernistic Le Coq Sportif version. In it Europe, was conquered and a teenage Gary Shaw became European Young Player of the Year when Lineker was still working on Leicester market. Stylish in a nostalgic sort of way, but like the team's success it was short lived. The away white with claret pinstripes was in keeping with the fashions of the time, and your memories of this shirt are probably the same as mine.

For the 1983-85 period, Le Coq really shouldn't have bothered, The team were in decline, the lack of taste in the kit mirrored it. The shadow stripe was fashionable at the time, but now looks as dated as Steve MacMahon's wedge and Kajagoogoo. This was the first time that the besmirchment of the colours was made so blatant with the addition of the word 'Mita', No club before or since has prostituted its kit so much as Villa did with these sponsors.

The 1983-84 Le Coq away design was possibly the cheapest looking football shirt ever designed. It looked like something you'd pick up from a 99p shop and the team played like it as well Steve Foster wore this shirt. He played for England in the 1982 World Cup. Hmmm.

The 1985-87 Henson design was controversial for several reasons. First, no blue sleeves. Second, no club badge (although there was a sponsor and manufacturers logo). Third, Steve Hodge wore it. They suited each other. (Sorry to go for the obvious connection, but it's still valid.) No wonder we were relegated. Henson disappeared shortly after, no tears were shed.

At the time we thought the 1987-89 shirt was about as low as it was possible to get. Hummel used the same design for countless other kits, the home one was described as blancmange and raspberry coloured, the away version a sky blue and white concoction.. It got us out of division two, but we shouldn't have been there anyway

Graham Taylor gave us back our self-respect in 1989-90 and introduced this youngster to the team. Runners-up in the league and a shirt epitomising the designer minimalism of the era.

1990-92. Taylor left, the team went downhill fast prior to BFR's recovery. The kit, yet again, mirrored this and Umbro's return looked impressive but again failed to last the pace. Tony Daley wore this a lot.

1992-93 was when public opinion and I strongly diverged. I hated the attempt by Umbro to go back to the thirties, mainly because they seemed to be doing it to every other club as well. But everyone else seemed to love it and it sold well. The team weren't too bad, either.

1993 saw Asics making their mark on Villa's fashion history, They always were best known for putting a stripe where no stripe had ever gone before. Nuff said. This was the time when football kit designers were most alienated from what their customers wanted. Villa wear claret and blue. Liverpool wear all red, There was more white in Liverpool's shirt than blue in Vilia's. This was when Ron stopped being a football manager and became a full-time personality. The results bore it out.

For an alternative design, Asics gave those traditional Aston Villa colours of red, black and green their brief appearance in the club's history, and John Fashanu did likewise, A flirting with relegation was the inevitable result.

In the summer of '95 two topics dominated the thoughts of the Astonian public, "What will the new kit be like" And "we'll be lucky to stay up." The first came as a surprise - a tasteful, almost traditional Reebok design spoiled only by a bit of yellow trim around the collar and arms And by way of thanks the team did better than expected.

But as if to make amends to the gods of bad taste, Reebok gave us something nobody else had thought to inflict upon a Villa team the Blue Shite. Aston Villa do not wear blue. as this is the colour of lesser beings, and anyone who wore this should be subjected to public ridicule. As a result of its unpopularity (forget what the club says, look around and see how many people wear it) the white version arrived this summer.

So Reebok, assuming you've still got the contract, be careful. There's more than just a bit of fashion victimisation riding on your designers

Dave Woodhall