Match Fitness: Fast Fashion

After a trip to Minnesota, the Sounders came home on Saturday and showed a little bit of what had us all so excited at the beginning of the season. Brad Smith and Jordan Morris (pictured above) both sported great looks to the stadium, using small details to elevate pretty simple outfits.

Smith, often more of a jeans-and-shirt guy, took a more business-casual approach to his outfit this time around. Wearing slacks, a short-sleeved button-up, and sneakers, Smith brought this outfit to life with styling details. Oxblood sneakers bring a bright, contrasting color that energize the whole ensemble, and the slacks are a slim fit with a prominent crease and a hem that hits exactly at the top of his shoes with no stacking or bunching. On some people, or in some outfits, the creased pants can look a little like getting dressed for your first job interview or wearing your dad’s clothes, but everything taken together here it’s clear that the crease is a distinct choice. That takes time, effort, and conscious thought, or at least a dry cleaner willing to press your things for you. The shirt here looks like just a plain old button-up, but I’ll point out the banded collar and rolled sleeves, which add a touch of individuality to turn the whole look up another notch.

Jordan Morris. Boy, I just love this guy. I don’t think anyone is going to make the argument that he’s the best-dressed guy in the locker room, but he clearly gets it. Like I said, the outfit here is pretty simple, there’s not a lot going on, but it’s clear that Jordan (or someone close to him) is putting real thought into his look. Perfectly slim fit jeans and t-shirt, both in black, are the foundation of this outfit. It would have been easy enough to go all-black here, or to work in shades of grey as he’s done in the past, but instead Jordan reached for light tan, almost cream colored pieces to complete the look. Tan suede Chelsea boots that are almost as pretty as Cristian’s goal from this game make me think that shoes might be Jordan’s favorite part of his wardrobe. The jacket is one we’ve seen Jordan wear before, but it works perfectly here; it’s a really good jacket. It’s also worth noting that our guy — intentionally or not — is also carrying a pair of sunglasses in his hand that are pretty perfectly color-coordinated to the rest of his fit.

Sounders FC Digital

I tweeted on Saturday that Kelvin Leerdam might lowkey be the best-dressed guy on the team. I think there are a couple other people in the same stratosphere as him — Kim Kee-hee, who is as beautiful as he is a snappy dresser, being one of them — but I still think the winner is Kelvin. Some day I may go into greater detail on what makes him so stylish, in my opinion, but for now I’ll put it this way: Kelvin is the person who I would most want to see design his own clothing line.

Now, for this outfit: It’s really good! It’s a cool pair of pants — I think an embellished motopant, but I’m not positive — and a really great polo. The shirt fits impeccably, the banded sleeves accentuating his arms without looking like a muscle shirt, and the print is really cool and simple. The collar is also an interesting spread, and something about the way that the points of the collar are turned up just the tiniest bit is weirdly working for me. If you want to see more of Kelvin looking really handsome and incredibly cool, you should check out his Sounders Monthly piece!

Now for some quick hits from the video:

• Bryan Meredith is a gem. He could easily be headed to the golf course with this look, but I love the shirt. Give me a floral print every single time.
• Kim is just so, so good. The way the sleeves are rolled, the color pallet, the billowy possibly linen shirt. Maybe he is the best dressed player on the team?
• Saad Abdul-Salaam might be picking up more than just pointers on how to play right back from Kelvin Leerdam, as his look is an almost a pitch-perfect riff on the Dutchman’s style.
• Roldan’s love for print shirts may have no bounds. The shirt from Saturday is another in a long line of really great ones from Roldan, and yet another hard-to-find Adidas piece. At this point, these shirts are Cristian’s signature, and if not for Stefan Frei’s collection of Yeezys I’d say he’s making the best use of his Adidas sponsorship on the team.

That’s it for me. I’ll see you all again after Wednesday’s game against Orlando!