Gareth Southgate's waistcoat: How the England manager has sparked a revival

He's bringing formal wear home

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Gareth Southgate at the match between Colombia and England on July 3, 2018
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Chloe Street11 July 2018

Gareth Southgate is on a winning streak.

Not only is he helming an extremely promising England world cup team, but Southgate, 47, has also become the stand-out sartorial sensation of the side lines.

Why? Because, like all style mavens, he’s found a look that works for him and he’s sticking to it.

And that look, is a £65 Marks and Spencer waistcoat paired with a pale blue shirt and stripy tie.

He debuted the look for the first match of the tournament, when England played Tunisia.

Gareth Southgate at the match between Tunisia and England at Volgograd Arena on June 18, 2018
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And he stuck to the theme for the match against Panama

Gareth Southgate at the match between England and Panama at Nizhniy Novgorod Stadium on June 24, 2018
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And Belgium.

Gareth Southgate at the match between England and Belgium at Kaliningrad Stadium on June 28, 2018 
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And Colombia.

Gareth Southgate at the match between Colombia and England at Spartak Stadium on July 3, 2018
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In fact, by the time England played Sweden on Saturday, Southgate’s waistcoat had firmly established itself as the lucky mascot of the season, with a fan base (and memes) to prove it.

His look is in fact so popular, that Marks and Spencer attribute “The Southgate Effect” to a 35 per cent increase in waistcoat sales since the tournament started.

England fans gather in Moscow for their World Cup semi-final v Croatia

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The navy wool waistcoat is part of the official three-piece suit designed for this year’s team by Marks and Spencer in collaboration with the Football Association. It costs £309 in total (plus £25 for a silk tie) and is still available to purchase on the M&S website.

It’s crafted from pure merino wool woven by the Alfred Brown mill in Yorkshire, which also supplied the fabric for England’s 2014 World Cup suits, and for the Team GB uniform for the 2012 London Olympics. The suit has a gold star embroidered on the inside pocket as a memento to England’s 1966 World Cup win, a jacquard football lining, and red, white and blue trims.

Traditionally, football fans have emulated their on-pitch idols with replica shirts, but could this World Cup and “the Southgate effect” signal a turning of the tides? Could we be ushering in an era of football-friendly formalwear?

When one considers the recent sartorial influence of the waistcoat-wearing Peaky Blinders – not to mention the overlord of football fashion David Beckham’s love of the trend – it doesn’t seem entirely implausible. Plus, Southgate's not the first celebrity to wear a waistcoat with panache.

20 celebrities who worked a waistcoat

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For now though, the England team now have just hours to prepare for a semi final clash with Croatia.

Southgate better get pressing that lucky waistcoat.