The Journal® / The Proper Label®

Culture

Shirts with a History

Numbers, collars and colours encountered in the football archive.

The Proper Label® ·

Numbers, collars and colours encountered in the football archive.

The orange shirt announces itself through a name and a number: DROGBA, 11. Green edges frame the sleeves. Laid inside its display, the garment keeps the folds that distinguish fabric from a flat graphic. The number follows the body that once gave this shape its meaning, even when that body is absent.

A different shirt offers a quieter set of clues: a generous collar, thin vertical stripes and the France crest. Football archives can be read through these small changes. A neckline or a typeface can bring an era to mind before a date is found.

A France shirt: narrow stripes, a deep collar and the federation crest.
A France shirt: narrow stripes, a deep collar and the federation crest.
Another view of the orange number 11 shirt in its display.
Another view of the orange number 11 shirt in its display.
A shirt carrying the name TANOH and the number 10.
A shirt carrying the name TANOH and the number 10.
A folded red-and-white shirt, kept with its accompanying tag.
A folded red-and-white shirt, kept with its accompanying tag.

These photographs are records of shirts encountered and kept in view around the House. They include existing football garments by other makers, as well as a personalised shirt carrying the name TANOH. They are references in an ongoing study of football dress.

Looking at them together reveals how much information a shirt can carry in very little space. Colour establishes allegiance; a number focuses attention; a collar changes the whole silhouette. The pleasure lies in looking closely enough to notice each decision.

From the House archive · The Proper Label®