The wives and girlfriends of seven international football stars have been shot by legendary photographer Rankin for a stunning global advertising campaign to promote Umbro’s new World Champions Collection.
Abbey Clancy, the girlfriend of England striker Peter Crouch, has joined six other women who, like her, currently or previously have either dated or married an international footballer. And to make it even more relevant to this summer’s event, each girl represents one of the seven countries that have ever won the world’s biggest football tournament - Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy and Uruguay.
Sign in or create an account to earn points for voting, keep track of your reviews, edit them, and more.
The striking image Rankin has produced is based on an iconic campaign run by Umbro in 1967, which famously featured girls cheekily wearing football shirts as dresses. For 2010, the campaign has been brought right up to date with the girls modelling the Umbro World Champions Collection. This truly inspired football range has been designed in collaboration with some of the hottest international artists, each hailing from the same country as each model. The twist in the brief to them was to base their design on the tailored silhouette of the Umbro England home shirt. “I thought the idea of creating a modern interpretation of the Umbro advert from the sixties was an interesting concept. The girls in the campaign all look stunning and they were a pleasure to work with. I’m extremely pleased with the results,” says Rankin.
Rankin spent two days photographing these beautiful women. Argentina is represented by Luli Fernandez and has been designed in collaboration with Buenos Aires based record label, ZZK Records. Brazil is represented by the wife of Julio Cesar, Susana Werner, wearing a shirt designed by Fernando Chamarelli, an illustrator, visual artist and tattoo designer from Sao Paolo. 
Model and TV presenter, Abbey Clancy, wears the England shirt. Abbey is striking in a shirt with a crest designed by Ben Eine, one of England’s most prominent street artists and graffiti pioneers. “I loved the shoot with Rankin and the opportunity to be a part of recreating the famous Umbro advert from ’67. The crest design is a really fun take on a traditional, regal crest,” said Abbey.
Charlene Suric, girlfriend of France & Arsenal left back Gaël Clichy, is wearing the French shirt, designed in collaboration with Andre, the Paris based graffiti artist and international fashion authority.
Germany is represented by Julia Godicke. Julia’s shirt has been designed by Marok, Berlin’s legendary magazine mogul and cultural icon. Alice Bregoli is married to Alberto Gilardino, the Italian and Fiorentina player, and will be featured wearing a shirt designed in collaboration with Italian comics’ author, illustrator and artist, Tanino Liberatore.
Finally, Uruguay’s inaugural 1930 and legendary 1950 World Cup wins are represented by Zaira Nara, who dates Uruguay and Atletico Madrid striker, Diego Forlan. Zaira’s shirt crest was designed by Martin Albronoz, a mixed media artist from Montevideo.
Trevor Cairns, Chief Marketing Officer from Umbro explains why the brand took this direction. “Looking back through our imagery archives, we discovered that Umbro used girls to promote their shirts in the World Cup year of 1966. We have used the wives and girlfriends of players who represent the Champion nations to model our new shirts. This is an irreverent, fun and Umbro way to showcase these great products, to celebrate global football culture in a World Cup year and to give a nod to our own history and heritage.”
The Umbro World Champions Collection of football shirts and T-shirts is available from leading independents. RRP £70 for the Limited Edition box (including poster of all the crests signed by the artists, the shirt, story booklet about the inspiration behind each design and a crest pin badge), £50 for shirt, £25 for T-shirt.
