If for a fan, wearing the shirt of his team soccer represents a sense of belonging and identity with your club; For a collector, keeping as many shirts as possible means owning a piece of football history. This is how they consider it Joaquin Vega and Sebastian Ortegatwo of the fifteen members that make up the Association of Collectors of Universitario de Deportes T-shirts (ACCUD)who, with a view to celebrating the Centenary of the team of their loves, have produced the book ‘I dressed myself in cream.’
In conversation with RPPthe associates comment that it is a photographic book that, in its more than 150 pages, brings together images of the official, alternate and special jerseys worn by the Universitario players throughout its history.
The idea of making this book arose a year ago, but it was not until the end of 2023 that the members of the ACCUD They met and created an inventory with all the t-shirts they have together (including polo shirts, shorts and accessories they add up to more than three thousand pieces). The result is a physical record with a lot of history and emotional value. “It was an interesting job because first we saw who had the oldest shirt. Then, we saw if we had all the cream-colored ones, the alternate ones and the editions from recent years,” Ortega reveals about the book that will be released in July and will be presented at the FIL Lima 2024.
Photographic record of the book ‘I dressed in cream’. | Source: Photo from the book ‘I dressed in cream’
What changes are evident in the design of Universitario’s shirts?
It is striking that the first shirts worn by the Universitario de Deportes players were white. In the book ‘I dressed in cream’the beginning is marked with the one that was played against Atlético Chalaco in May 1925. It was a white, long-sleeved T-shirt, with a round neck and laces up to chest height. On the left side of the garment the logo was imposed: the classic ‘U’ inside a circle in cherry tone.
Back then, the T-shirt was thick and heavy. Over the years, the model stopped having long sleeves to have short sleeves. He varied the round neckline with the shirt collar and the ‘V’ neckline. The official colors began to be cream and cherry, the latter mainly for the alternates, whose first photographic record shows Teodoro ‘Lolo’ Fernández wearing it in the 1940s.
There are T-shirts that stand out from others due to their design. This became noticeable in the 80s, when the material of the garment stopped being heavy and became lighter, and printed fabrics were used that included sublimated designs.
Sumy Kujona Peruvian designer in charge of the designs of Universitario’s shirts in 1997 and 1998, reveals that at that time the shirt collar was used again because it was fashionable in the football industry worldwide. “I designed the commemorative shirt for ‘Lolo’ Fernández, the greatest idol of the ‘U’, and they told me that it had to have his photo as a requirement. In addition, the logos were large and obvious; now they are small and subtle,” confesses the creative who created a shirt with the photograph of the top scorer printed on the fabric.
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The weight of the shirt
The shirt is that tangible object that reminds you of the story you lived with the club as a child. Joaquín Vega remembers with affinity the shirts that began to circulate from the 90s onwards. “At that time the commercial boom of the shirt issue began, the brands were included and they were more elaborate.[…] In the 90s, there are some really nice t-shirts and some are even hard to find,” says the founding member of the ACCUD.
For its part, Sebastian Ortega He says that the most precious shirt he has is the one designed for the inauguration of the Monumental stadium in 2000. “It was a shirt that I didn’t expect to have because there were only a few productions. For that match, it didn’t have the sponsor on the chest, but instead they printed a photo of the stadium,” he says.
Just like these T-shirts, the book ‘I wore cream’ compiles more photographs to complete the current record. It is up to each person to immerse themselves in the story, appreciate the evolution and identify with their favourite.
