While other comprehensive kit retrospectives are available, there is no doubting that current Senior Sportswear Designer at Fanatics Emre Gultekin has a certain knack for them.
This look at Manchester City’s wardrobe history begins with the shirts of “City” forerunners Gorton and Ardwick - respective looks which have arguably been underrepresented since - before encompassing the many sky-blue-and-white designs which have been proudly donned across three separate centuries.
Post-war change kits are also included, with maroon colouring stripes and even seeping onto the first-choice outfits - particularly below the knee - and then an array of designs, including stripes and sashes, which share the red, black and white palette of local rivals Manchester United.
Indeed, the “noisy neighbours”’ evolution has seen a whole array of colours used on Away and Third kits, with the sky blue generally barely even appearing as an embellishing tone.
One such example is the cult-favourite, yellow, Umbro Third from 1989, worn in an ignominious defeat to Arsenal and never again, yet somehow becoming a “grail” for the modern Man City collector and even receiving the honour of replica-form reproduction - both officially and clandestinely.
More understandably, the Kappa shirt worn in the 1999 Second Division play-off Final is also highly sought after, marking, as it does, what most regard as the turning point which led to the Citizens modern successes.
Subsequent to that incredible comeback victory, there have certainly been undulations in performance and attainment, but taking in Le Coq Sportif (twice), Reebok, Umbro, Nike and, most recently, Puma, City now find themselves one of the finest teams on Earth, with a much greater audience to which their wares can be marketed.
Emre’s beautiful rendering acts as a catalogue of styles over many eras, for a club whose kits may have been overlooked in the past. Everyone knows who Manchester City are now, and what they wear has never before provoked as much interest as it does today.
Visit Behance to view more of Emre's work. Keep up to date with it by following egsportsdesign on Instagram.
