There is no deficit of beautiful boys keen to hog the spotlight these days; recent weeks have seen Neymar Jr strip to his boxers for Kim Kardashian’s Skims, Paul Mescal bare fuzzy legs for Gucci and Timothée Chalamet recline in a tractor tire and smize out from the cover of GQ (no complaints, just observation).
There is one new face that has gripped the internet’s attention of late, however: that of Travis Kelce. Eh? I hear you ask. By all accounts this immaculately sculpted 34-year-old was very famous for his NFL football playing (sure), before September saw him start dating Taylor Swift — news of which duly sent him stratospheric. There was a rush on buying his ’87’ numbered Kansas City Chiefs football jersey, while he rocketed up to the top end of Google search.
All signs point to him appearing to enjoy this refreshed wave of American sweetheart attention. One glance at his Instagram — @killatrav — proves he has been partial to flashy looks for years; staged paparazzi shots of him decanting private jets with myriad Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton hold-all’s are a telling touch.
And since September, Kelce looks to be pinning himself to one aesthetic in particular — the fashion Mob daddy. Doing so encroaches on the foremost purveyor of internet daddydom, actor Pedro Pascal, but he has nevertheless proven himself committed. Snaps show him strutting in white heeled Alessandro Vasini boots, flared pink Amiri slacks and a Cuban-esque J. Morgan silk shirt, crafted from designer scarves. Dark shades and a 70s moustache make for peak gangster.
There are frayed-hem suits paired with white tees and Louis Vuitton suitcases, oversized black tuxedos with hunky rings and black-and-white brogues, as well as crushed velvet parachute slacks worn with billowing shirts and lashings of chains around the neck. It all looks to have stepped out of a luxury sponsored spin-off of The Sopranos.
The Swifties have been expectantly whipped into a frenzy. “Our new dad is giving style icon,” “Daddy is Daddying!”, “Our father is fathering” read squawks from the comment section. It is all a long way from pre-pandemic Trav, when his go-to pair denim was white, spray-paint skinny ripped jeans, a logo t-shirt and open flannel shirt.
