Creativity in football: TCD meets Naomi Accardi

The Culture Division sat down with writer and editorial consultant, Naomi Accardi, to talk about all things fashion and football, the challenge of creativity, the importance of storytelling and some of the many exciting new projects she has bubbling away right now. 

When you look around at the state of the world today, it is perhaps easy for those with a creative disposition to feel a little rudderless. But for those who see the quality of creativity as a virtue, the challenge becomes less about finding direction in chaos and more about shouldering the responsibility that is borne by the artist or the visionary during anxious and unruly times. 

Naomi Accardi is one of those people. A writer, editor, creative consultant, and purveyor of all things visual communication, fashion, marketing and more, it’s difficult to define her work by any one discipline. 

Shot by Alessandro Furchino.

Over the course of the past decade, like a kind of contemporary polymath, she has worked for brands like Adidas and Carhartt, placed squarely at the intersection of fashion, football and the niche subcultures that orbit those fields. Her journey has taken her from the west coast of the United States to southern Germany to Dubai to Milan, where she currently lives and works. Up to this point, Naomi’s multidisciplinary career has spanned some of the most meaningful moments in the convergence of the fashion and football industries. 

Recently, Naomi underwent something of a reformation. Rather than flying too close to the corporate sun, she chose to give it up. In its place, a whole new world, filled with the barriers and pitfalls that go hand-in-hand with anyone taking the leap into the unknown, opened up to her. But most importantly, at the same time, so too did an unmatched level of freedom and possibility. It has, in her own words, “been many, many years in the making.”

“I can remember working at the forefront of the football and fashion crossover at the start, even before it was a thing”, she tells me, reflecting on how much that realm has exploded since then. The symbiosis of both spheres is a well-worn fact by now, even taken to be one of the few constants in the world of football today. But as Naomi opines, much of it misses the point entirely. 

“Just this morning I saw that Arsenal and Adidas did a collaboration with Pusha-T… but why?” she asks. “I understand the race to engage, for example, the American fan, and Pusha T is a legend and an icon – he’s been an Adidas brand ambassador since I worked there. But what is the relevance to Arsenal?” 

Her question is rhetorical, but it points to a wider phenomenon: the scarcity of authentic and original storytelling among clubs of all sizes in the modern game. Pusha T in an Arsenal shirt – that’s cool, right? On the surface, there’s no denying it. 

At the heart of the issue, though, is the absence of anything truly unique. The game’s creative side is in danger of becoming a monoculture: a mundane cycle of rinse-and-repeat kit releases and editorials without any presence of cutting-edge thought or originality. 

“They’re [football clubs] are missing out on opportunities”, she states. “The stories and the heritage of these clubs go so deep, but it seems as if everybody is trying to do the same thing. Venezia set a precedent in that regard, obviously. But it doesn’t mean that every club should follow that same model.”

Venezia have become the ultimate reference point for stylised storytelling. But it doesn’t work for every club.

Naturally, that groupthink trickles down into many of the popular platforms that exist to celebrate the finer points of the game’s culture, but end up recycling the same content. Naomi is similarly critical of their approach. “It’s very monochromatic. It is classic press release articles without any real critical point of view. They’re scared of doing anything that is too disruptive.” 

Breaking out of that trap is not an easy feat. “It’s a constant cycle of compromise”, Naomi explains. “It’s the sad reality of media nowadays… you are always at the mercy of your advertisers. But that is more of a social or societal issue at large.”

And there lies the biggest hurdle. The cost of doing business will often (if not always) override the act of creativity itself, and that is true of any small or independent media platform. Season magazine, the trailblazing fashion and football platform that frames the game from a women’s point of view, walks that line very carefully. As Editor-at-Large, Naomi understands those frustrations as much as anyone. “We have no advertisements, but that’s also why we’re smaller. We do things in a very unique way.”

As someone who has seen both sides of the dividing line, Naomi is taking an exciting and refreshing approach to her latest array of creative projects. 

One of those projects enjoyed its launch only a few weeks ago. systemarosa was born out of a simple but often overlooked issue in the vintage football market: that none of it caters specifically for women. “If I go to check out vintage football jerseys, they’re always for men, or they’re clubs I don’t care for, and they’re not silhouettes I can wear to go out”, says Naomi. It’s not a stretch to conclude that systemarosa has identified yet another corner of the football world that puts the male market above the women’s market. 

Items from the first systemarosa collection. Shot by Logan Jackson, styled by Sam Herzog.

As with all of Naomi’s work, there is a deeper, more conceptual meaning behind it all. systemarosa adds another layer of meaning by providing a platform for vintage resellers, retailers and designers to rent or purchase some of the inventory to use as inspiration for their own creative endeavours. “We’re focusing on a very specific type of football style. Most of our stuff has funny sponsors or a silhouette that is either cotton or wool. For example we have a lot of classic NR items. Here, instead of buying the expensive and exclusive Wales Bonner jersey, you can buy the jersey that inspired the Wales Bonner jersey.” 

Almost everything from the first collection sold out at the soft launch party in Brooklyn earlier this month. With a new online commerce platform in the works and a second collection set for release in November, systemarosa’s role in reinvigorating the vintage football-fashion space with a fresh, new, female-centric approach will have a lasting impact.

The systemarosa launch event in Brooklyn. Shot by Sarah Jordan.

Late August saw the launch of RISERVE, a first-of-its kind international index of creative people working in and around football. The submission-based list works as an accessible directory, allowing clubs, brands or anyone in need of a creative resource – from designers to photographers to directors – to reach out and commission people directly. It’s another project Naomi is rightly proud of, not least because it addresses something of an elephant in the room in the industry. “Whenever I went to check out who the credits were for kit launches and stuff like that, it was always the same photographer, same directors, same stylists. This was totally unfair!” 

Persuading clubs and brands to expand their own creative talent is made a lot easier when they’re presented with a tailor-made selection of resources to choose from. “If I can create a tool that makes them a little bit less lazy, then maybe we can make them a bit more motivated”, explains Naomi. 

As it turns out, it was a resource in dire need for those doing the commissioning. 

“It’s not going to be an overnight thing, but it will change and expand the pool of talent” says Naomi. Her answer is a little candid, given the success it has already received. “Clubs have started to reach out to me saying: ‘thank you so much, this is an amazing resource, can we share it with the rest of our team?’ and I’m like: ‘yeah, that’s the point!’” Some 200 of the most talented people connected in some way to football around the world have already signed up to the RISERVE list. 

The RISERVE list launched in late August and has already connected clubs with new creative talent.

RISERVE, itself a thriving project of its own, sits under the umbrella of perhaps her most ambitious and far-reaching endeavour: NONSENSE Projects. Arranged as a threefold platform, NONSENSE exists as a creative studio in the traditional sense, a development hub which Naomi calls an “idea incubator”, and a forthcoming editorial arm, due for release in later this November. 

“I wanted to create something that could be a host for my projects and ideas, but also to create a network”, she explains. “You bring your expertise, we bring ours, and then it’s a shared thing. I wanted to create a space where ideas can be developed with a community of experienced people and resources to bring it to life.”

Set in New York City, the very first edition of the editorial platform will be slow-paced, drawing on stories from the city that best embody the spirit and feel of NONSENSE Projects as a whole. It’s often difficult for creative people to measure their own success, but rolling out the next phase of Naomi’s biggest project will mark another significant step in her post-corporate journey.

“It’s inherent in the creative person to compare themselves to other people, but how do I focus on the things that really matter to me?” asks Naomi, in one of the more introspective parts of our conversation. It’s a good question, particularly in an increasingly murky football landscape and the constant requirement for compromise. 

But with a revolutionary take on vintage fashion and the women’s game, a refreshing approach to widening the creative base working in football, and an innovative workshop to house these ideas and more, it’s safe to say that Naomi Accardi is finding her way towards an answer. 

Naomi Accardi is a writer, editor and creative consultant. Read her weekly newsletter Things I Thought About on Substack.