Today, you can travel to the other side of the world to a city like São Paulo and find, as I did, someone wearing a Crystal Palace FC jersey from the 1990s in a rave. For Kenny Annan-Jonathan, the revelation isn't a surprise when I mention it to him on Good Friday morning at an uncharacteristically empty 180 Strand. The 35-year-old design supremo is relaxed, inquisitive and grounded by his family, friends and faith. He has always known how big the Crystal Palace brand is, long before he signed on as the club's – and the Premier League's – first creative director last year. “I've always been someone who has kind of played in the shadows,” he says. “I definitely liken my journey to what Crystal Palace represents.”
The marrying of fashion and football isn't just one of convenience, but a logical result of the lines between two major subcultures being erased. Take Aimé Leon Dore's SS24 campaign directed by Walid Labri, which featured players such as Arsenal's Declan
