Sunday, February 7, 2021

A Look Back at the CFDA’s ‘Haute Couture’ Football Helmets

Fashion designers like Diane von Furstenberg, Narciso Rodriguez, Donna Karan and more designed their own take on the fashion football helmet in celebration of the 2014 Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl’s high-fashion factor usually comes with the halftime show and its buzzy headliner, but in years past that wasn’t always the case.


In 2014, the Council of Fashion Designers of America teamed with the NFL and Bloomingdale’s to celebrate Super Bowl XLVIII, which was held in the New York area, by debuting 48 “haute couture” football helmets designed by fashion designers like Diane von Furstenberg, Narciso Rodriguez, Donna Karan, Nicole Miller and more, at the retailer’s Manhattan flagship.

Each designer brought their own signature style to their couture football helmet. Miller, for one, designed a black-and-white striped helmet with both painted flowers and floral embellishments placed in a crown-like fashion. Badgley Mischka designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka designed their football helmet with a white lace overlay embellished with red jewels.

Bloomingdale’s also created its own version: a black-and-white checkered helmet embellished with protruding miniature Statues of Liberty and the Empire State Building.


The department store ultimately auctioned off the couture football helmets and donated proceeds to the NFL Foundation, which supports youth football programs and other community initiatives. Bloomingdale’s raised $73,000 through the auction, with John Varvatos’ silver metallic helmet with studs selling for the highest bid for $5,025.

The CFDA teamed with the NFL again for the 2016 Super Bowl, where 50 designers created bespoke footballs to again be auctioned off to benefit the NFL Foundation. Designers that took part in the initiative included Prabal Gurung, Rebecca Minkoff, Tadashi Shoji, Tanya Taylor and more.

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