With his jaunty beret, statement spectacles and oversized suit you might think football pundit Ian Wright was trying to copy Hollywood actor Samuel L Jackson… or Frank Spencer. Or maybe he thought England were playing France.
In any case, Wright’s £69 black wool beret was a far more interesting talking point than England’s straightforward 3-0 Nations League victory over Czechia.
His striking look certainly stopped ITV viewers switching over, with one joking online: ‘Loving Ian Wright’s Frank Spencer cosplay’.
Others added: ‘That’s not Frank Spencer, that’s Frank Marks & Spencer‘, ‘How did Roy Keane keep a straight face?’ and ‘Is that the French version of Samuel L Jackson?’
‘Ooh Betty!’, joked another referring to Spencer’s (played by Michael Crawford) on-screen wife in the TV comedy Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em.
Supporters of his former club Crystal Palace were unimpressed: ‘Bad version of Orson Welles? More like Orson Cart,’ wrote one, presumably more senior, fan.
Fashion expert Adam Cheung on the GQ website was more complimentary: ‘He looked like an art professor you’d actually turn up to a 9am lecture for,’ he wrote.
Ian Wright’s £69 black wool beret was a far more interesting talking point than England’s straightforward 3-0 Nations League victory over Czechia
With his jaunty beret, statement spectacles and oversized suit you might think football pundit Ian Wright was trying to copy Hollywood actor Samuel L Jackson (pictured)
His striking look certainly stopped ITV viewers switching over, with one joking online: ‘Loving Ian Wright’s Frank Spencer (pictured) cosplay’
The beret came from small Kent-based independent menswear label AWMS and Wright teamed it with a £230 oversized grey linen-cotton suit from the Universal Works brand in Nottingham.
His stylist, Jess Stebbings, told GQ: ‘Ian’s style is just generally quite timeless and classic, and he knows what suits him, what works for him, what he likes. He doesn’t really follow trends. We just wanted to switch up his hats a bit.’
The beret did come in useful when Wright, fellow ITV pundit Roy Keane and presenter Mark Pougatch were caught off-guard when the Wembley pitch sprinklers came on before kick-off on Tuesday.
As the pundits ran for cover, Pougatch jokingly asked Wright: ‘Is that why you’ve got a hat on?’
