The best 5 monochrome kits in the history of football When normcore and "less is more" turn into legend
In the last five years or so we have been witnessing in both mens and womenswear a predilection for monochrome palettes matched with distinctively geometrical and boxy silhouettes. This style, motivated by the research for a versatile and sophisticated utilitarianism, has been also embraced off the haute couture catwalks, therefore becoming a cornerstone of brands such as COS, Zara, Other Stories and Olive, just to name a few. In football, though, the use of monochrome solutions seems to have been mostly limited to the back of kits, hence with utilitaristic rather than aesthetic purposes, so as to advantage the audience and the referees to better identify both the individual players and the teams on the pitch.
Monochrome patterns have no doubt been part of the aesthetic evolution of sportswear, resulting in a string of some of the most iconic kits in the history of football, proving the truth of the motto "less is more". After all, the charm of the monochrome surfaces of Yves Klein or Lucio Fontana has played a key role in the revolution of the art world. Similarly, kits like those of The Netherlands, Fiorentina or Torino, despite maintaining a certain sobriety throughout the years, have become synonyms with elegance on the pitch.
Italy Euro Belgium-Netherlands 2000
Not as ground-breaking as the Kappa Kombat, but Nike’s Chelsea shirt for the 2017-18 season surely represented – nearly twenty years on from the debut of the revolutionary Italy Euro 2000 jersey – a return to monochrome order in the Premier League. Nodding to the iconic shirt worn by the early 1970s Chelsea, the Nike top proves that it is still possible to conjugate the research for innovative sportswear technologies and materials with the respect for classic design. The shirt also draws an ideal parallel between Chelsea’s current UCL fame and the moment when the club turned pop at the height of the Swinging London, acquiring remarkable fans such as actor Michael Caine.
