It has become a meeting within a meeting… Now almost more anticipated than the first training scheduled a few hours later. Each arrival at the Château de Clairefontaine is an opportunity for the players of the French team to wear stylish clothing, from major fashion houses or emerging brands seeking visibility. This is good news, the players of the French team are offering millions of them via their social networks.
Lovers of fashion, the Blues take part in the game with this 2.0 fashion show – around fifty seconds to get out of the car, pose in front of the crowded press and climb the ten steps of the Château de Clairefontaine – which delights social networks every time. gathering. Decryption with image agent Frank Hocquemiller, co-founder of VIP Consulting, which notably represents the brothers Lucas and Théo Hernandez.
franceinfo: What is your opinion of this “parade” of players in Clairefontaine, when they arrive at the castle?
Franck Hocquemiller : For me, this is not an evolution, it is downright a revolution! At the time, there was Djibril Cissé, very fashion-oriented, who always arrived with very trendy outfits. It then calmed down and recently came back into fashion with Jules Koundé. He is the most innovative in this area. I think it's a very good thing, we highlight brands, which are often French, at an international level.
At the beginning, it was criticized a lot, now, it's a lot analyzed and commented on. This also breaks the clichés around players who have been criticized for arriving in tracksuits with their hoods on their heads. This didn't give a very clean, very classy image… We may have gone to extremes today, but I think it's a very good thing as long as we stick to trendy and fashionable outfits, and not disguises to make people talk. These designer outfits are pretty nice, expected from now on, and it shows that the players are influencers, including fashion influencers.
This, for some players, seems to have become a real process. In order to show that they have other hobbies besides football?
Yes, even if you have to stay focused on the objective! When you arrive at Clairefontaine, you are there to represent your country in events which are sometimes very high stakes. We must not forget. But I find the initiative very positive, excellent for the brands and for the image of the players. We keep putting them in the box of the footballer who only knows how to play football and who only knows how to talk about football… Fashion is a common passion, they are all attracted by fashion. I've never met a player who wasn't interested in this field!
You manage the image of the Hernandez brothers, Lucas and Théo. Does this meeting matter to them too?
Of course ! It's true that it has taken on more importance, even if they are not the most eccentric, nor the least sober… Well, I don't know what you think! It is something, despite everything, important and which will be a subject during the week. It's not the day before when you're packing your bag that you think about it. You think about it a little…
“For the Hernandez brothers, it’s a subject in the week before the gathering! Brands ask us, the player can do it too, if he particularly likes an outfit.”
Frank Hocquemillerat franceinfo
The brands then contact the agents to make us proposals. And then the player chooses while respecting these commercial commitments. Indeed, if the player is under contract with an equipment manufacturer, it is a good idea to arrive with the brand's sneakers. However, contracts have evolved over the past two years: before, fashion brands were banned and seen as competitors. Today, they are the first to be delighted when one of their players signs with a major fashion designer. They see a person who is no longer simply a footballer. The equipment manufacturers almost encourage the player to approach a haute couture house.
How does it work with brands: sponsorship, a financial exchange?
There are actually three scenarios. The first case is a loan of the outfit, like “I'll lend it to you, you'll give it back to me, it's a prototype, we need to get it back, we can't sell it yet…” Second case of possible figure: “You wear it and, of course, we are delighted to offer it to you, that’s the least we can do”. The exhibition of the outfit will get people talking, create some publicity… And finally, last case, it can trigger contracts, but it takes a little more time. In the case for example of Jules Koundé with the Jacquemus house, he wore a lot of outfits from different designers, before Jacquemus actually made him do a campaign.
