V Magazine: Footballers' Wives

I think this fashion spread, shot by Sebastian Faena, in the latest edition of V Magazine (click here to read online) is brilliant. It is so tacky and fun and through its faux gossip magazine layout it perfectly captures the spirit of soccer players' wives and girlfriends. Whether it actually makes you want to buy any of the clothes featured is another matter, but I like it in a wrong-but-right way.

A few things inevitably spring to mind. The first is the horrendous yet hilarious style of Yulia Voronin and her husband, the former Liverpool player Andriy Voronin. The Ukranian pair cut quite a dash in Dolce & Gabbana last year, and became a fixture on the 'worst dressed' pages in the tabloids, with their constant stream of heavily branded monstrosities. I have this sort of morbid obsession with women who have no taste whatsoever, but still put a huge amount of effort into dressing up in designer gear, and getting hair extensions, fake tans, and stick-on nails.

The editorial also reminds me of Footballers Wive$, which was a British TV series that ran throughout the first half of the 00s. It was always fun to watch; it was, I think, an intentional parody of the 'trash tv' genre, with its absurdly improbably story lines (more tame epsiodes included viagra-induced murders, lesbian sex scenes, psychotic killers, baby stealing, and frequent snorting of cocaine), bad acting, bad jokes, and amazingly tacky, lavish settings and outfits. Joan Collins starred in the last series, bringing a touch of Dynasty glamour to the whole thing.

I guess this clip kind of sums it up; someone has uploaded all the episodes here.