A Fashion Love Letter to Football Stickers

Earrings and chain from H. Samuel, T-shirt from Headlock Vintage, football badges from eBay, ring by Gogo Phillip

PHOTOGRAPHY AND DESIGN: Frighil & Gorse
STYLING: Bridi Foden
Stylist Assistant: Stephanie Woods
Hair: Leire Barrenetxea using Label.M
Make-up: Amy Conley using MAC

A football sticker swap shop in a newsagent just round the corner from our office, earlier today.

WORDS: Adam Carroll-Smith – comedian and the author of Six Stickers, a book about completing the 1996 Premier League sticker album.

I started collecting football stickers in 1990, when I was six. School is very tribal, but football stickers were this uniting force; people parked up in leisure centres and swapped with kids in the local area. It was just the done thing, really, but I’m sure it was thanks to some Freudian, deep-rooted male complex about wanting to compete in everything.

Earrings by H. Samuel, Nike sports bra, custom top by Clio Peppiatt, latex gloves by Atsuko Kudo.

I took it really seriously as a kid, and collecting as an adult was a hangover from that. One of my mates does a spreadsheet that goes around work, which gets updated more than time sheets or holiday sheets. People still take it really seriously. You think, 'Who could possibly give a fuck about football stickers these days?' But, as you can tell, people do give a shit.

Hologram jacket by Mary Benson, football top and shorts from Headlock Vintage, Nike socks, trainers by Phiney Pet.

I know there are people who have collected every single album since the dawn of the Premier League. I don’t know how they do it. If you go around the country there are different stickers that are really elusive. There’s a bizarre microcosm that's actually a market, and I’m sure some shitty bankers learned their trade in the playground by collecting football stickers. Do you just throw money at it or are you a savvy swapper?

Adidas sports bra, mesh T-shirt by Vinti Andrews, football badges from eBay, metallic skirt from American Apparel, Nike socks

It’s the kind of thing that has more personal value than financial value, though. If you do complete the books it’s kind of a big thing. Because it’s fucking hard, really, what with all the replicas. There was one year when Terry Fenwick, who played for Swindon, came along so often that it became a recurring name in my mind. Also, Clayton Blackmore haunted me. I saw his face in my nightmares.

Football shirt from Headlock Vintage, jumper by Vinti Andrews, football badge from eBay, rings by Gogo Phillip, earrings from H. Samuel, sweatpants by Phiney Pet, socks from Beyond Retro, trainers by Saucony

I was thinking I should probably let go of this obsession – I’m becoming a proper adult now; I’m 29. But it’s nostalgic, and obsession with juvenilia. At a certain period in your life – in your late teens, or twenties or thirties – you look back a little bit. Everybody wants to reconnect with their childhood. I don’t think it’s indicative of some sort of regression by the whole football-watching nation, but back when I was a kid football was straightforward. We just supported our team and played in the park – there was no bollocks. Football stickers now are a reaction to that, a really neat way of getting back to the basics. It’s football just being really fun and simple.

Earrings by H. Samuel, T-shirt by SAM MC, Adidas sweatbands, PVC skirt by Topshop

Jumper from Beyond Retro, badges from eBay, shorts by Urban Renewal at Urban Outfitters, orange Nike cycling shorts, socks from American Apparel, No Wifey trainers by Phiney Pet

Gold earrings from H. Samuel, red PVC mac by Chic Freak, football T-shirt from Blitz Vintage, shorts from Urban Renewal at Urban Outfitters, leggings by Monki, trainers by Adidas

Earrings by H. Samuel, referee sweater from Rokit Vintage, shorts by Filles à Papa, latex stockings by Atsuko Kudo, trainers by Adidas