Skip to content
Article

Behind-the-Scenes at the CFDA-NFL Bespoke Football Collaboration

January 13, 2016

Marc Karimzadeh

01 / 16

Paul Andrew

Super Bowl 50 is less than a month away, but CFDA designers started preparing themselves for the big event some time ago. Honoring Super Bowl 50, 50 CFDA Members have worked their magic and created Bespoke Designer Footballs, from Nicole Miller to Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig of Marchesa, and Rachel Zoe.

Here, CFDA.com shares an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the creation process. Billy Reid, for example, came up with a ribbon stripe design using Louisiana wild alligator; Melissa Joy Manning channeled a crystal ball of approximately 17,500 Swarovski crystals, and Tanya Taylor’s theme is “A football left overnight in the end  zone” that has “decided to bloom,” with hand-cut multi-colored leather flowers gracing the surface. Meanwhile, Paul Andrew’s football took over 20 hours to make, and features Italian hand-made Specchio and Spazzolato flowers, while Tadashi Shoji’s Japanese Springtime-inspired design comes with embroidered tulle, glass beads, grommets, leather laces and vynil—and took 28 days to complete. Cynthia Sakai of Vita Fede, for her part, worked on her football for 45 days for a brass, 24-karat gold model.

The footballs will be featured in NFL Shop at Super Bowl, NFL Experience and On The Fifty, and the Super Bowl 50 restaurant, among other NFL events around Levi’s Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area. And 50 football fans can be lucky owners of these one-of-a-kind creations: the footballs will be up for auction Jan.20-Feb.14 at NFL.COM/Auction in support of the NFL Foundation.

Billy Reid
Cynthia Sakai
Football
Melissa Joy Manning
NFL
Paul Andrew
Super Bowl 50
Tadashi Shoji
Tanya Taylor

Subscribe

Keep up-to-date with all the latest news from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.