Imagine yourself sitting behind Kate Moss at a Chanel fashion show during New York Fashion Week.
You see the models walking out in designs seen by the public for the first time. Behind the scenes, it’s complete chaos, the models are doing a quick change, being touched up and running around to prepare for their next walk down the runway.
People all over the world live and breathe for fashion, and now sports uniforms have become almost as important as the designs on a runway.
Now imagine the chaos in the ZonaZoo. You’re sitting there at Arizona Stadium, next to your best friend, in your UA T-shirt or your $90 jersey, cheering on the football team.
Arizona football has three jerseys: a white, a blue and a red, all of which had a confusing gradient effect on the player’s number in 2013. The problem with the old uniforms was that the colors faded in.
The blue uniform’s gradient started from the top and on the red one and the white one, the gradient started on the bottom. Altogether, the jerseys looked tacky. The fade made the number hard to see when you were watching the game.
The gradient effect was removed because an NCAA rule made it illegal to be worn on the jersey, said Wendell Neal, associate athletic director of equipment operations.
The gradient effect on the numbers will not be missed. Arizona Athletics has moved on to bigger and better things.
Now, the 2014 jerseys numbers are a solid color. Simplicity is a good thing, and these uniforms look simpler and cleaner. Although the sleeves will remain the same, there is less of the gradient color scheme, making it appropriate for the new uniforms. The football team will look great when the season starts in the fall.
On the hardwood, the last time we saw the men’s basketball team it was in the 64-63 loss to Wisconsin in the Elite Eight — but it looked good doing it. Like the football team, it has three uniforms in red, white and blue.
Sophomore guard Gabe York said he felt comfortable in his uniform. The white uniforms were worn for home games, the red for away games and the blue occasionally for road games. The detail on the back of the jersey, behind the player’s number, has a faded picture of a saguaro, mountains and a basketball as the sun like the old court in McKale Center, along with the Arizona flag and the Arizona basketball logo.
“Personally, my favorite was the red one,” York said. “In high school, I wore red and I think it suits me best.”
The Wildcats play well and look good — almost as good as a model walking out in a design by Karl Lagerfeld.
—Follow Alicia Vega @aliciaavega
