Is the world ready for an NFL brand fashion show? (And other important questions)
A conversation with NFL fashion editor Kyle Smith on storytelling, style, and sports
Football players have historically been defined by the jerseys on their backs and their performance on the field. As the first-ever NFL fashion editor, Kyle Smith has made it his mission to change that notion through the power of personal style.
Smith grew up a fan of fashion, not sports — worlds that, until recently, have appeared disparate. But in the six years that he has been at the League in various capacities, he has come to recognize sports and style are not mutually exclusive, but mutually beneficial.
He originally sought the path of a “traditional” stylist; he wrote for FLAUNT Magazine and interned with fashion designer Amiri and celebrity stylist Karla Welch. When Smith took a job as a wardrobe assistant for NFL Network in 2019, it was for both noble and practical reasons; yes, it was a paying job as a stylist, but there was also an opportunity to introduce fashion to a world it had mostly shied away from. Fashion is all the better for it — just ask Anna Wintour, who went to bat advocating for the inclusion of two NFL players in last summer’s Vogue World extravaganza.
The fashion editor title is as full of day-to-day responsibilities as it is committed to the bigger picture. Smith oversees the official NFL and NFL Style Instagram accounts, coordinates getting-ready content in players’ homes, and works closely with their agents to establish and maintain relationships between the athletes and fashion media and houses.
I emailed Smith three days before Super Bowl LIX and received an unforgettable auto-reply message as a response: “Thank you for reaching out. However the Super Bowl is our Super Bowl, and I may be slow to respond.” This was the first (and most likely, the only) OOO message in history that elicited an audible laugh. To me, this charming reference to the chronically online colloquialism of referring to something as “my Super Bowl” encapsulates the fresh perspective and dynamism that he brings to this unprecedented and important position.
Zoe Allen: How did the fashion editor role come to life? Did you push for it, or did someone come to you with the idea?
Kyle Smith: It was more the latter. When I started at the league, I had the responsibilities I have now, just more unofficially. I was hired as a stylist in 2019, really just to be someone on social, but I knew there was a lot of opportunity in other areas of the business, at the League, and in culture. Anything from working with our consumer products department, going to Fashion Week, or leveraging fashion and big events like Fashion Week and the Met Gala to broaden both the league's and our players’ reach.
I decided on the title of fashion editor just because the League is pushing to attract a fashion-forward audience, and so we have to meet fashion people where they’re at. “Fashion editor” is a title that resonates with people who work in fashion, and if you can speak their language, it helps get the point across.
ZA: Where do you hope to see this job and title evolve towards?
KS: Doing what I already do, just at a larger scale. There's still a lot of work to do for European brands, for example, to understand the impact that American sports, and particularly American football have, because it doesn't really exist internationally. Expanding internationally is also one of the League's initiatives — we have our international games in London and Berlin, and we just announced one in Australia. I think international exposure is big for us in growing all of our fashion initiatives.
ZA: What is your favorite part of the job currently?
KS: Working with our players to tell the stories that aren’t told as much — the ones beyond the football field. Our players love space and dinosaurs and other things besides sports, which I think is so fun to see and have others see. I also appreciate my role in helping people realize that sports are for everybody, which, in turn, grows our reach, our fandom, and our audience. But I would say that my favorite part is truly helping to tell the players’ stories.
ZA: That reminds me of a quote from Ogbo Okoronkwo - and I just butchered that pronunciation, I'm so sorry.
KS: Just call him Obeezy.
ZA: [Laughs]. Thank you, okay. He had this quote in your New York Times profile that deeply resonated with me. He said that he felt that because of you, he finally had a space to express interest beyond — in his own words — “grass, football, and dirt.” Expressing those other interests was something that hadn't been allowed, or there had been a perception that nothing else mattered for a very long time. How does it feel to be such a big part of that reason that it's finally "normal" for football players to like fashion or express interest in things beyond the gridiron?
KS: I think it's an honor to be around people who are at the top of what they do, and then allowing them to be even bigger than they already are is such a privilege. I feel honored to be a part of this space and to get to know these amazing guys who are so interesting and inspire me every day.
ZA: What draws you to work with certain players?
KS: It’s not necessarily this "picking out" process. Of course, there are players that I recognize as dressing well and having an interest in fashion. This sounds silly, but it's like Harry Potter — you don't pick the wand, the wand picks you. Whoever meets me at this intersection is who I want to be working with; players who have a good energy and a genuine interest in being a part of fashion. It's one thing to be interested in looking good and dressing well, and it's another to want to be a part of the business of fashion. Every business needs to have people who want to be there, who want to do the work, who are nice to be around, and who aren't a headache whenever you think about them. It's the players who show up on time when I send them a call sheet for a photo shoot, the players who put effort into the content that I'm asking them to make or become the face of a brand because I said that they should be — these are the players I want to work with over and over again.
ZA: Is there anyone that’s surprised you to work with? Do you have a favorite project that you've worked on?
KS: Surprising, no. Once players realize fashion is a great way to get any of their interests or stories across, they're just "surprisingly" great to work with. So, in this way, I think I'm just more “surprised” every time because of the perception that an athlete only cares about sports. When I was growing up, I thought that athletes couldn't possibly be interested in the same things that I'm interested in, like fashion or pop music or something. But now, I'm listening to Lady Gaga with a player in a car on the way to go shopping somewhere. It's just a real treat to be around these guys and see that they're so multifaceted.
In terms of a favorite project, Vogue World was so major for me. On a smaller scale, I love going into players’ closets and filming them getting ready for a game.
ZA: Tell me about how the Vogue World moment came to life with Joe Burrow and Justin Jefferson.
KS: Joe Burrow's team came to me expressing interest in going to Fashion Week. He was already speaking at a conference in Cannes and decided he also wanted to go to Paris; it was his first time leaving the country, so it was a very big, fun, exciting moment for him. Justin was also speaking at the same conference, so we decided to plan this huge Fashion Week trip and looked into all of the opportunities while we were there, which included this Vogue moment. Originally, the Vogue Paris and Vogue teams didn't understand the point of American football players being a part of this specific story because its narrative was centered around the 2024 Olympics, which did not include American football. But Anna Wintour is obviously a genius, and she just told them that this would capture the American market — and it did. The story of them both going to LSU was strong; they're close friends and hang out off the field. It all just came together really organically, and the pieces fell where they were supposed to.
ZA: That's incredible. This is a bit more subjective, but I have to ask your opinion on this: What do you think makes a good pre-game fit?
KS: I ask the players, "Who told you to wear this?” If it's coming from a sincere and personal place, then it makes a good tunnel fit. I think sometimes [laughs], actually, always, it's incredibly important to make sure you're expressing yourself through your clothing. When I'm styling a player, I start with questions like "What was the first concert you went to?" followed by "Do you have a T-shirt from that concert?." Sometimes, players will feel that they have to wear suits to look a certain way. But do they really? Is that actually what they want to wear? So I ask them, "Does this feel like a good reflection of who you are?" And if it does, then it's a good tunnel fit.
ZA: Do you hope to that other professional sports leagues expand to have roles such as yours?
KS: I want everybody to be able to express themselves through fashion, and I think there's a lot of opportunity for other leagues to do the same thing that we're doing. I do this so that the players can tell their stories. I obviously can't tell every single story, so I hope other people out there feel like they can help athletes do the same thing.
ZA: What made you apply to the social media/styling team at the NFL after feeling like sports weren’t welcoming for so long? Did you always have this plan of making this role at the League, even way back in 2019?
KS: Everything kind of happened at the same time. When I was working for Karla Welch and Justin Bieber, no brand considered gifting products to players the way they did for Justin. Now, I feel like players are just as welcomed by brands and are as desired in their seeding and gifting lists. When I started at the NFL in 2019, it was mostly about finding a job as a stylist and making money. But when I did enter into sports, I realized that there was this massive opportunity and that the world wasn't so different than the world of celebrity styling I came from. The longer I stayed at the League, the bigger this feeling got, and the more the role made sense.
ZA: Where do you see the future of fashion and football heading?
KS: Bringing Fashion Week to the Super Bowl this February was a glimpse into the future. We brought Bode, who typically shows on the New York Fashion Week calendar, to New Orleans for the Super Bowl. I’m asking myself “How can we do that next year with more designers? Can we have a cool creative director for an important fashion house partner with us? How can the NFL also show up at Fashion Week?” I don't know if the world is ready for an NFL brand fashion show between Louis Vuitton and Hermes, but it's a question that’s worth asking.