Deeny on Deutschland's Jogi

From: Godfrey Deeny

1. Jogi's V-Neck Kaschmir Pulli von Strenesse der Savile Row vor Neid erblassen liess!

2. There has been something of a long search for us folks in the United Kingdom for the Cool, New German, especially when it comes to football, where, hang it all, you Teutonic chaps have this damned habit of always seeming to beat us when it really matters.
   
   We all like to remember 1966, England’s one moment of World Cup glory, but since then, it’s been a painful chain of losses. And, hang it all, you finally got your revenge of that infamous Wembley Tor in Bloemfontein; and tore the English defense to shreds.
   
   Before, at least, we could always poke fun at our Germanic cousins for the way they dressed. Gerd Muller did score that brilliantly opportunistic diving header against the Three Lions in Mexico 1970, it’s true. But did he ever actually look in the mirror? He might have been the all time goal-scorer for the Mannschaft, yet off the field poor Gerd still managed to look like an unemployed miner in frumpy cardigans.
   
   You see, when the final whistle was blown, we still had Savile Row, George Best and David Beckham. Could you ever imagine a Jerry from the Ruhr modeling an Armani underwear campaign? You have got to be kidding.
   
   Which is why all of a sudden, everyone over here is upset about Joachim Löw. You see, you Krauts – yes, that’s still the most widely used term for folks from the Bundesrepublik – not only do you keep beating us, but you have also finally found yourselves a coach with a real sense of style.
   
That much was clear from the opening match, when you trashed the Australians and Löw appeared in a well-cut suit and, most intriguingly, a sheer cashmere V-neck. Which was not only chic, but had a certain avant-garde, risqué pizzazz. Most importantly, fitted his torso and looked damned good; most intriguingly, we wondered, had a vest underneath?
   
   We’re not saying that all your Bundestrainers were sartorial disasters. Kaiser Franz had a decent wardrobe, but it was always a tad too formulaic. One sensed his wife most have picked out his clothes. And poor Helmut Schon…. A great coach admittedly, with a certain charm in his workers flat cap, but had he nothing else in the closet besides his tracksuit with the German eagle crest?
   
   Löw, on the other, has clearly thought about his image, and his physique; and he clearly checks our men’s fashion magazines. He hangs scarves around his neck like a Parisian, i.e. doubled up, and tied through; and favors high-collared body conscious white shirts, like a Milan luxury brand CEO.
   
   Plus, as the men’s fashion critic of The Financial Times, and thus pretty familiar with mega designer dress habits, I can report meeting John Galliano, creative director of Christian Dior no less, in a V-Neck cashmere pullover, and even wearing them myself, personally favoring Malo, my vote for the best Italian cashmere label.
   
   More galling still, we’d thought by hiring an Italian, it would maintain our sartorial status. Instead, Fabio Capello’s Mark & Spencer’s £200 gray suit also came off a poor second to Löw’s latest V-Neck – in steel blue no less - and a suavely cut single breasted jacket. In a word, a middle manager brushed aside by a stylish entrepreneur.
   
   And, Jogi’s got a good sense of grooming, the just a tad too long hair imbues him with that creative touch, a sense that he reads interesting novels, which women always like. He even looks like the big brother of the current model in Dior’s current Eau Sauvage cologne ad campaign, for chrissakes! And that hint of gray hair imparts a certain youthful gravitas. The frauleins must swoon.
   
   Moreover, Jogi is clearly setting trends, just ask the folks at Strenesse. That label’s CEO Gerd Strehle has been telling me for years that Löw has been a vital force in driving business for the brand.
   
   All told, his new cosmopolitan style seems a perfect metaphor for the multi-ethnic New Germany that has been grabbing so much attention. On June 15, when I landed in Florence for Pitti Uomo, the world’s biggest men’s wear trade show, Italian daily La Repubblica heralded “La Nuova Germania… la squadra mille colori.” Translated: “The New Germany, the team of a thousand colors.”
   
   “Addio Panzer,” the paper continued, welcoming a Mannschaft that was “between a kebab and a paella.”
   
   Now that you Germans have whipped us again in South Africa, we’re grasping at straws like a drowning man. And, casting our minds back through Hollywood iconography we did find some consolation in that mega hit Basic Instinct, especially the scene where Michael Douglas has his erotic dance in a nightclub with Sharon Stone. He wore a clinging, tight-fitting cashmere V neck jersey too. Douglas, you might recall, ended up killing his lover and being prepped by Stone for an ice pick death…
   
   Small comfort, I know, after losing in football and fashion this summer.