Gender roles have always surrounded many different spheres of social life. From our early years we are conditioned to use or choose certain things that are “adequate” for our gender; but in recent decades, the discourse around the questions of: ¿What is made for each gender?, ¿What is gender in itself?, and ¿Who has the right to rule over our choices? has entered a debate. The world has stepped into a gender revolution regardless of the fact that there are countries and societies that still bow to those antique divisive traditions.
One topic that has been the center of the storm is sport and more concretely, football. Football has always been a male dominated field, the inclusion of women has been an arduous fight against old structures. Everything around the sport was dedicated to the men, including the sportswear. Growing up in the 90’ and 00’, it was unusual to find women wearing football shirts, as men did. But as time passes, traditions change, and in the past few years sportswear started to become a type of garment used by all. Nonetheless, an interesting sociological adaptation started to happen, some female designers began to adapt parts of the football attire, specially the shirts.
The multiple alterations consisted in transforming the football t-shirts into: corsets, mixing them with lingerie or shortening them, among others. Adding what some people may describe as a “feminine vision” to what has been a product dedicated mainly to men across decades. Reinvention is part of human progress and that is what labels like the English-French Brand Dilemma has been doing.
Emma Barois, the founder and creative behind the brand Dilemma, declares that she has been inspired by unapologetic women like her grandmother and also motivated by her passion for football from her early years. Designing and upcycling football shirts mixing them with lingerie pieces creating something unique, a fusion of corsets, lingerie and football. She defies the instaurated system of gender division and merges two worlds. As Barois states, she wants to “navigate strength without surrendering femininity”.
Carolina de la Cruz, a IED Spanish fashion designer has also dived into the upcycling world bringing a personal touch to the restructuring of football shirts. After carefully sewing the garmints into a tight but flexible accordion, the transformation is complete. Now corset-shirts the designs form a beautiful silhouette. After being contacted by a football player’s wife, Claudia Rodriguez, De la Cruz keeps expanding her business.
We are far away from dismantling a system that runs their roots deep into society, but everything can start with a question, asking ourselves if what we know, experience and use in our everyday lives is a conscious choice or a choice made for us. These women are redefining femininity and masculinity as we know it, believing that clothes are more than simple elements of our daily lives.
Photo credits: @carolinacastellote / @dilemma.uk (PH: @em.bns // Art direction: @garancedr)
