The National Football League wants to give its growing cohort of female fans an elevated take on game day gear.

On Monday, the NFL announced it had collaborated with New York-based ready-to-wear line Veronica Beard on a collection of 32 blazers — one for each team — based on the brand’s signature Dickey Jacket. Priced at $998 each, the jackets are more elevated than the rest of the league’s official women’s apparel offer — the customary sporty jerseys, tees, sweatshirts and varsity jackets, which are all priced under $200. The complete collection will retail on Veronica Beard and the NFL’s sites, as well as at Neiman Marcus stores and in NFL stadiums.

It’s the latest example of fashion and sport cosying up to one another. Over the summer, luxury conglomerate LVMH sponsored the Olympics, while brands including David Yurman and Glossier have inked partnerships with the NBA and WNBA. While the NFL has tiptoed into fashion — releasing a collection of sweatshirts with Boss last year, for example — it’s been slower to dive into the conversation as much as other sports leagues. This collaboration marks the NFL’s first big step into women’s fashion in particular.

“This is a real need. This wasn’t out there,” said Renie Anderson, the NFL’s EVP of partnership and chief revenue officer, who estimates women make up 50 percent of its viewership.

For Veronica Beard’s part, plugging into sports — and the NFL specifically, which saw interest among women surge last year thanks in part to media attention on pop star Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs’ tightend Travis Kelce’s relationship — is an opportunity to speak to a new audience. The brand has been in expansion mode: Last year, it surpassed $250 million in sales and opened a number of new storefronts, including in Charlotte, North Carolina and Los Angeles’ ritzy Beverly Hills. This year, it added an outpost in the Hamptons and another in London.

“We’re always looking for white space. When all of the sudden there was the Taylor Swift effect for the NFL, we were like, ‘wait, what do you wear to a football game?’ Your only choice is a large men’s jersey or a lame sweatshirt,” said Veronica Swanson Beard, co-founder of Veronica Beard. “We think you can elevate that.”

The NFL’s Fashion Drive

Fashion represents a huge opportunity for sports leagues, teams and brands.

For the NFL in particular, the opportunity crystalised last season, as more women and young people started tuning in not only to games, but the culture of sports at large. That’s in part due to the growing popularity of high-profile wives and girlfriends of athletes — including influencers Alix Earle (dating Dolphins receiver Braxton Berrios) and Morgan Riddle (girlfriend of tennis player Taylor Fritz) — who have attracted millions of followers as well as deals with high-profile brands like denim maker Frame and Louis Vuitton.

The Swift effect also helped spark a burgeoning interest in game day style as her own ensembles — which included pieces like a Dion Lee corset, bedazzled Area jeans, a sweater from friend Gigi Hadid’s label Guest in Residence and a puffer by fellow NFL WAG Kristin Juszczyk, who then snagged an NFL licensing deal — made headlines.

The league sees the step into fashion with Veronica Beard as a way to offer mainstay fans new — and much needed — fan apparel options and potentially help keep new viewers engaged.

“We had a tidal wave of growth [in women viewers] with the dating situation in Kansas City. It helped younger fans come into the NFL,” said Anderson. “We want to continue to feed that fan, we don’t care how they got there, once they’re here, we want to keep them.”

The popularity of Juszczyk’s designs — puffers, corsets, tank tops, jerseys worked into skirts, patch dresses and stitched coats that centre on stylishness — “was a jolt” that shook up the NFL merch space, said Anderson. More projects with Juszczyk are in the works, she added.

Brands Pile Into Sport

It goes both ways: plugging into sport is also a chance for fashion brands to market themselves to new audiences.

Veronica Beard’s interest in the space was piqued after UT Austin women’s basketball coach Sydney Carter wore a few of the brand’s pieces at games. Soon after, basketball phenom Caitlin Clark, wore a Veronica Beard suit in an interview.

“Our following skyrocketed in a whole new demographic,” said Veronica Miele Beard, co-founder of Veronica Beard. ”Women rising in sports is crazy important right now and relevant.”

The Veronica Beard team thinks this is just the beginning for the NFL and fashion and women: there are plenty of fans who want to get dressed up for games, who have few spirited-but-stylish options. Anderson said the league is open to more brand partnerships, and plans to make more pushes into the industry in time.

“If you think 20 years back about your selection options as a woman for any sport, it would have been something pink … That is not understanding who she is,” she said. “The business will grow if we continue to focus on women in a way we’ve focused on other fans in the past.”

For its 11th year, BoF gathered its global community of the most influential figures in fashion at the Shangri-La Hotel in Paris in September. This year, attendees of the BoF 500 Gala were a global community hailing from more than 35 countries, including Nigerian Afrobeats superstar Wizkid who performed on the night.

This year, Neft Vodka has partnered with BoF to platform three new members of the BoF 500, to explore how their creative careers and success are evolving in the industry. “There is a feeling of real excitement when you first experience a creation and you can sense the effort and passion that the artist has put into the piece,” Paul Robinson, chief creative officer at Neft Vodka, told BoF in a recent interview.

Hiromi Ueda, global makeup artist at Armani Beauty, is one of this year’s inductees into the BoF 500. Ueda’s early career led her to London, where her talent quickly gained recognition. In the British capital, she began to work with some of the industry’s most influential photographers, including David Sims and Tim Walker.

Over the course of her career to date, Ueda’s work has featured in fashion publications such as British and French Vogue, i-D, and Dazed. Her client list boasts prestigious brand work with the likes of Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, and Miu Miu, further solidifying her status as a key player in the fashion world. In January 2024, Ueda was appointed as Armani Beauty’s Global Makeup Artist.

Now, BoF sits down with Hiromi Ueda to hear how she utilises creativity in both her role at Armani Beauty and in her own professional path.

How is your creative practice evolving and what is driving that process?

Having come from Japan, my creative process has evolved so much over the years. I draw inspiration from a variety of sources. Most of the time, just watching films or flicking through magazines and visiting different places. But, what truly drives my process is the inspiration I get from nature. Simply looking at beautiful colour combinations or textures in nature sparks my creativity and influences what I apply to my work.

How do you expand your creative inspiration and expression authentically?

Creativity is crucial for engaging with consumers. Despite access to global influence and trends, staying true to yourself and believing in what you like — that’s the most amazing thing for your creativity. It’s vital to showcase what you can do and emotionally resonate with your consumer through your core values. It allows you to stand out in a crowded market like ours, allowing you to get more attention, especially in this social media era.

What skills do you believe are most valuable in your profession in today’s market?

Being a makeup artist, it’s a social skill. We’re not applying our creative work on a piece of paper or a canvas, we’re working with people all the time. So, people skills are the most important. Working on actresses or doing any personal makeup, as well as working on fashion shows or shoots — collaboration is at the core and communication is vital.

There’s also so much more to our profession than simply applying makeup. Today, you have to promote yourself — and edit videos to promote your work on social media. It’s an opportune time for younger artists to showcase their work on social media with a much wider audience than we previously had.

How has the application of your work changed in today’s media landscape?

It’s very different because when I started in this business, I was carrying my portfolio. Nowadays, you can showcase your work and skills through social media — on Instagram or TikTok — it’s all very fast-paced and this speed is important. At the same time, I think I have become well-versed in showing that there is still a slow-paced beauty around. Some people still want to have a quiet, calm and authentic pace.

What advice would you give those seeking to enter the beauty industry today?

Honestly, just get out there. Back in the day, we only had photo or editorial shoots, or moments at fashion shows — those were the only times we had to showcase our work.

Today, you have to promote yourself.

Today, even if it’s just in your bedroom, you can create your makeup look on yourself or friends. It’s just about going for it, putting yourself out there and having faith in what you think is best. Don’t sit still — even if you don’t want to show your face, you can pull together references, some people do sketches — there are so many different ways to show your creative process.

What innovations in the industry excite you?

I’m excited about the development of technology and what it’s done to celebrate individuality. There are so many products and colours for different skin tones that have been helped by technology. It’s amazing to see this focus on shifting our beauty standards.

What does your selection for the BoF 500 mean to you?

I am honoured to be included. I feel that my personality is not really expressive enough for showcasing my work and so I feel really lucky to have been selected. Coming from Japan, I hope that, not only the Japanese, but all Asian people see what I have done and feel like they can do the same.

This is a sponsored feature paid for by Neft Vodka as part of a BoF partnership.

Shares in LVMH plunged 6 percent last Wednesday after the luxury goods giant reported fashion sales down 5 percent, badly missing expectations. With 75 top-end brands across categories, the conglomerate is broadly seen as a bellwether for the sector, while typically outperforming the competition. Shares in Kering, Hermès and Zegna, all of whom will report third-quarter sales this week, also dropped following LVMH’s miss.

The biggest issue for luxury is plummeting demand in China, where the economy has struggled to bounce back from Covid-19. The real estate sector accounting for 70 percent of China’s household wealth remains in crisis. Customers are increasingly pessimistic about their financial futures, and are holding onto savings. LVMH’s sales in Asia excluding Japan fell 16 percent last quarter, while Japan (a key destination for Chinese tourist shoppers) also slowed sharply.

Shares in Kering have bounced back in the past few days, likely because expectations for the Gucci and Saint Laurent owner were already extremely low: Gucci’s sales dropped 20 percent in the first half, and the company’s market capitalisation has fallen 40 percent year-on-year.

Analysts at UBS expect group sales down 15 percent when Kering reports Wednesday, mainly due to “no improvement at Gucci despite a higher share of [designer Sabato] De Sarno’s collections in stores.”

Market sources say the uptake for De Sarno’s first collections has been stellar among top-end buyers, who have sold out monogram-embossed $8,500 leather jackets and $11,500 lace dresses. “Runway releases from Gucci … were met with exceptional demand,” this season, Mytheresa’s chief commercial officer Richard Johnson said.

But the broader pyramid of shoppers — ones who only occasionally indulge in luxury bags, shoes and other “aspirational” merch —continue to indulge elsewhere. A spring-summer show that paid tribute to the Italian sunset but opened with a grey office tracksuit is unlikely to have moved the dial. Quarterly sales are expected down 24 percent.

Saint Laurent and the “Other Luxury” unit housing McQueen and Balenciaga are expected to be down 14 and 5 percent, respectively. Look out for updates on second-half profit: the previous guidance for a 30 percent drop “seems ambitious” as the company’s topline sinks, according to UBS.

Bottega Veneta could be a bright spot, having put its hefty effort to dial down wholesale exposure behind it. Sales at the Italian bagmaker are expected to rise 3 percent.

Elsewhere, Zegna reports third-quarter results Tuesday. Sales of high-end ready-to-wear from the Italian menswear giant have continued to hold up as luxury growth stalled for most brands. But the group’s Thom Browne subsidiary appears to have hit a wall: sales plummeted 20 percent in the first half of the year. Look for updates on the integration of Tom Ford, as well, which seems to have gotten off to a rocky start with the brand changing designers after just two seasons.

Then there’s Hermès. The French luxury stalwart, which reports Friday, has likely had no problem continuing to sell out its Birkin and Kelly bags. UBS expects 12 percent organic growth.

Still, the brand’s practice of privileging buyers who buy heavily across other categories has come under pressure in recent months. Amid declining enthusiasm for luxury across key economies, how many people are still willing to play “the Hermès game”? An antitrust lawsuit in the US suggests a growing number of customers have had enough.

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