TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY
We’ve always heard that you need to “dress for success”.
The idea really took-off in 1975, when John T. Molloy first published Dress For Success, his blockbuster best-selling how-to book. Molloy is credited for creating the idea of “power dressing”.
It’s pretty well established that you can “power dress” for the corporate world, but how about if you’re one of the coaches at the FIFA World Cup Games? The players are the players, and they’re resigned to wearing whatever the team colors are and jersey’s and shorts tied-into their sponsor affilates.
*THE COACHES though, are a different story.
Watching a few of the World Cup games, it occurred to me the difference in style of the Coaches.
Does “dressing for success” apply to the team coaches? Can we predict the success of the teams based on how their respective coaches dress?
DIEGO MARADONA, probably the most famous of the coaches, is now trying to lead his native Argentina to World Cup Glory. He wears watches on both wrists. I saw this on an early a.m. Google story and thought it looked stylish. Ever since he landed in the Louis Vuitton ad, this guy has gone WAY up in my standings.
Brooks Peck reports, “Maradona now wears a pair of his own Hublot special edition watches that feature a silhouette of the former No. 1raising his arms in victory (or perhaps to knock in a goal).”
Hublots ring-in at $11,000+. The watches were definitely styling, and Argentina defeated Nigeria: 1-0.
The designer suit looks serious too.
Image from Yahoo.com. 6/13/10
By contrast, Nigeria’s Coach, LARS LAGERBACK, favors tracksuits but he just can’t carry them the way CARLOS ALBERTO PARREIRA [who we examine next] can. Maybe it’s the total, package: the receding hairline, the specs and the less than fit physique. Then again, maybe it was the disheveled tee shirt.
These FIFA Games are the sixth World Cup Games CARLOS ALBERTO PARREIRA has coached. He’s here coaching the home team this time. So far, South Africa has tied Mexico in the opening game. Like MARADONA, he also looks in charge, dressed in a charcoal gray suit and tie, but the tracksuits he tends to favor also inspire confidence in both his players and the audience. Although he’s 67 years old, he looks very fit and like the kind of coach who might actually do some of the training workouts with his team. Coaches like this are Gods to their players, and as such, can get that extra bit out of them that can make the difference in the big game. I’m predicting some victories for Team South Africa.
And, finally, we get to the USA. Our Coach, BOB BRADLEY, favors tee shirts and his team track suit. He looks as rugged and totally buff, in that Special Forces Marine – Vin Diesel kind of way, striding-out on the field.
FABIO CAPPELLO, England’s Italian Coach, looks every bit the quintessential Milanese dressed in a snazzy suit, as he watches from the sidelines. Perhaps his penchant for designer suits comes from the time he spent playing for Milan from 1976-1988. That’s coincidentally the time that Italian designer, Giorgio Armani, started coming into his own, and becoming a household name.
So, in the end, what does it all mean? Does “dress for success” really matter? Does the suit make the man, and by extension, make for a winning team? We’ll know the answers to all of these questions a month from now, when it’s all over. In the meantime, keep on watching!
IMAGES:
L. Lagerback post Argentina-Nigeria FIFA game, from www.u.goal.com [holding yellow posts]
Carlos Alberto Parreira [in suit], from http://www2.unopar.br/unoparnews/imagens
C.A. Parreira in South African Team uniform, from,
http://blogs.jovempan.uol.com.br
Fabio Cappello in action on the field: http://footyfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/england-coach-fabio-capello.jpg
[F.Cappello on right],from http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/barwick_capello438x318.jpg]
http://footyfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/england-coach-fabio-capello.jpg
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