Designers: England’s Jersey Is Tops

Fashion designers have rated the England team’s uniform as the best designed.

Samsung Fashion Institute asked 220 fashion designers and fashion product planning experts from Cheil Industries Inc. their opinion of the best-designed soccer uniform. At the top is England with 61 respondents (28 percent), followed by Argentina with 46 respondents (21 percent), and Germany with 37 (17 percent).

England’s uses the colors of its national flag – white, red and deep blue – expressing a dynamic and gentleman-like image.

The Argentinean uniform uses the combination of light blue, white, and deep blue, creating unique, sophisticated image. The German uniform shows a simple and powerful design.

The Korean uniform ranked 12th with four respondents (1.8 percent) due to its red color is rather dull. Designers suggested that a more unique red be developed and used in the uniform to make it look more sophisticated.

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago’s uniform was rated as the most sexually attractive uniform by 53 respondents (24 percent). The uniform uses the colors of wine and black, matching well with the brown skin color of players. The uniforms of England and the Netherlands ranked second and the third, respectively, in this category.

At the top of the list of the most fashionable Korean players are Ahn Jung-hwan (56 percent) and Jo Jae-jin (27 percent). Among the overseas players, David Beckham comes first (86 percent).

Choi Yoon-jeong, head of Samsung Fashion Institute, said, “A simple uniform design is the notable fashion trend in the 2006 World Cup. Each nation made good use of traditional symbolic colors.”

kimhs@donga.com