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When I was a young girl studying fashion journalism in university, I had no idea I would spend so much time thinking about Pep Guardiola’s trousers. That was probably for the best, too. If I knew my Monday mornings would look like this, I probably would have gone into a different career, like aviation. Or deep-sea mining.
Alas! Yesterday I found myself, like most of London, watching the Arsenal vs Man City match. You know the stakes: Man City wins and they edge closer to top of the table with promising road in front of them. Which, you know, football: great! Title fight drama: even better!
But, of course, because I am the way I am, I found myself fashion-analysing Pep Guardiola. Underneath his navy turtleneck (I have an unconfirmed suspicion this may be Loro Piana), my eyes were drawn to his trousers. Was that side adjuster? A double-pleated front? A cummerbund waist??? I texted my Gunner-supporting mate “Check out the trousers on Pep,” to which he responded that he was going to throw himself off a bridge.
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The thing is, these aren’t really a suit trouser you pick up at a chain tailoring store. These are a very niche style called ‘Gurkha trousers,’ a style that comes from Nepalese Gurkha soldiers fighting in the British colonial army. Seriously, I meant niche. They’re a structured trouser that can still move, ideal for keeping up when you’re trotting after your 6’4” Norwegian forward.
Anyway, the point is: good trousers. (Arteta, by contrast, was in his navy quarter zip and grey stretch trousers. No shame, but not exciting.) Next, I turned my eye to identifying them. This has been famously hard to do considering Pep, for all his stylish moves, doesn’t seem to go for obvious plays. His boots are worn John Lobbs, his sweaters are unbranded, his houndstooth trousers are the type of thing you’d get custom made, or buy from a small Italian atelier from a guy who’s probably 89 and smokes rollies at 5am. Non-flashy, quiet, knowing.
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My eyes did briefly alight when I thought I had identified them as Okonkwo MFG. Mainly because the thought of Pep Guardiola wearing underground Japanese military-inspired workwear satisfied my sick and twisted little mind. Sadly, no luck. I came close again with these ones by Velasca, an Italian brand. All the pieces lined up, except for the curve on the hip pocket. (If it wasn’t for those meddling side-pockets!)
In the end, the trousers remain, like most of Pep’s wardrobe, un-identified. Maybe that’s what keeps me interested. Other managers get the badge in and my mind files it away as yet another Stone Island, or C.P. Company and be done with it. Maybe it’s the mystique, the secrecy of it all, the enigma of Pep. Either way, I’m tuning in. There are worse uses of my journalism degree.