Mitchell & Ness is capitalizing on yet another iconic cultural moment. In the ’90s the Princess of Wales sported a Philadelphia Eagles.
Princess Diana’s ties to the city stemmed in 1982 when she represented the British royal family at the the Princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly’s funeral. Being that Kelly was born and raised in Philadelphia, many of the guest list were Philly natives and one of the attendees was Eagles statistician, Jack Edelstein. In conversation with Edelstein at the reception, Diana asked what the colors of the team were and when she was told it was “Green and silver,” by Edelstein, she responded, “Those are my favorite colors.” Edelstein then promised to send her some Eagles merch. When he got home, he sent the British royal workout shorts, t-shirts, baseball caps, all with the Eagles logo and along in the package was also the iconic varsity jacket. Edelstein revealed that Leonard Tose, Eagles owner at the time, was the one who gave the idea of sending her the jacket. Diana later sent Edelstein a “very nice note,” evidently thrilled by the gesture.
In a recent episode of Sunday NFL Countdown on ESPN, Diana’s former bodyguard Ken Wharfe shared the story behind the jacket, “Diana always craved the normalcy. By being a member of the royal family, that was almost impossible. Neither William or Harry, when they were kids, wanted their mother to sort of dress in her finery, take them to school. So all Diana would do is be as casual as possible.” He added, “Diana loved to be different, this was her style. It sort of showed the public and her children that she was a normal mother in a style that people liked.” Diana was photographed in the jacket multiple time in the mid-’80s and early ’90s. Mitchell & Ness is now reviving the iconic moment with a recreation of the custom letterman jacket worn gifted to the princess.
The limited-edition jacket is set to retail for $400 USD and is set to be available starting on November 9 at the Philadelphia Eagles Team Store, the Mitchell & Ness Flagship store, as well as online at Mitchell & Ness and Fanatics.
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