International Jock

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Brand Profile: Dirk Bikkembergs

Remember that crazy bananas movie, “Silence of the Lambs”? Do you also remember that scene when our beloved heroine, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) was right on the verge of catching Buffalo Bill? She goes to visit Hannibal Lecter while he’s being held in Tennessee. He taunts her for not being able to put it all together, telling her that all the clues that she needs to catch him are in her case file. She’s flustered, grasping at anything she can get from Dr. Lecter. In his menacing, taunting retort, he tells her how to find him: “He covets. That is his nature. And how do we begin to covet, Clarice?” And we all know how that crazy business ended.

I love that scene, because it speaks to the basic motivation of why we do things. I covet, you covet, we all covet! Let’s say it together! We all covet! I’m also tangential…but anyway.

“What does brflines covet?” you may wonder. How about a sweet pair of Dirk Bikkembergs?

Dirk whozitwhatzit?

Ask yourself the following: which brand is positioned at the interface of sport and couture? Which label fuses football and fashion? If you don't know the answer, I'll tell you: Dirk Bikkembergs.

Dirk Bikkemberg’s sportswear line made its first public appearance in 2001 at a fashion show at San Siro stadium in Milan. For those of you who are athletically inclined, you know this as the home field of the storied Italian football sides, AC Milan and Inter. This is the epitome of Dirk’s vision, one that brings together the sporting culture of European football and haute couture. As the popularity of the brand grew, thanks in part to its ability to deliver high fashion with a sporting edge, the company actually bought a football (soccer) team. Talk about dedication to their art!

The absolute first thing that you need to do after you finish reading this review is to google the name. You’ll be opening up a pandora’s box of guy candy that will keep you busy looking for more for the next hour or so. Seriously though, their ad campaigns are beyond smoking hot, they’re molten! It’s like getting a sneak peek inside an Italian football team’s locker room and discovering that they’re all wearing super sexy underwear. As Rachel Ray would say, Yum-O!

Then, log onto the website (which is very navigable) and enjoy more guy candy. There’s also an e-store that sells items from Dirk Bikkembergs, including (insert sound of feigned shock here) underwear. And let me tell you, there’s so much underwear to covet in the e-store, about a hundred different varieties of briefs, trunks, undershirts, including the awesome golden underwear. Being a proud, briefer, I had to put on a drool bib when I saw their offering of briefs. There’s also a coquettish side to the brand, exemplified by the description of my favorites, the blue football briefs:
Quintessence of virility on and off the field. These briefs prove to be perfect for active men who like the comfort of soft, extra-light microfibres. Better not leave them unattended.”
Cute, right? The e-store site also has some nice touches that make it a joy to navigate, like a coherent English translation, and the cool “get the look” feature. And you know the garments are going to be great quality because of the price point and the care taken just to market them.

So, here’s the rub, boys. The company does not deliver to the U.S. Outrageous! There must be some kind of UN thing we can do, or I should send an appeal to the WTO. I needs me my Dirk Bikkembergs!

So, if you’re lucky enough to live in a country where your flag is just a bunch of colored bars (three or fewer) or has the union jack on it, try Bikkembergs out and let the rest of us covet your new, sporty, sexy underwear.

3 comments:

Victor C said...

Guy candy is right! I love the website and how easy it is to navigate. I googled per your suggestion and I've spent a little bit too much time here and there. haha!

It's a shame that the company doesn't deliver their lines to the US. I'd really love to see these out there in the market. Maybe on a venture out of the country I could pick up a pair.

I want underwear bonus

Gregory said...

I think Dirk has an amazing ability to articulate why his designs are the top of the mark.

Not may high fashion male designers make that kind of information available to the public so I appreciated his documentaries of his models/ team/himself.

It could just be underwear and we could all just admire it. But, when he knows that there is something special about his product was when I fell in love, especially with his naturally beautiful men to model his beautiful creations!

i want underwear bonus:)

Anonymous said...

Great looking clothes, but why do they only tailor their pants/jeans for people with long legs? They don't make pants/jeans for people with shorter leg lengths?