Mary Fowler graced the Le Défilé runway on Monday as an ambassador for L’Oréal Paris, highlighting the true growth of women’s football and its expanding opportunities that are now available to the stars of the game.
It’s no doubt that the recent rise of women’s football over the past few years has contributed to bringing an abundance of opportunities to players of the game. This rising visibility of the sport has paved new avenues for endorsement deals, ambassadorships, and opportunities beyond the football pitch. Opportunities like Fowler’s experience in Paris exhibit the idea where women in sports can and should be recognised and represented outside of the sport.
Including a player like the Manchester City star means more than just featuring a major athlete for a brand endorsement. When there was once a time where women’s footballers lacked the exposure they deserved, now, there’s a space for them on global stages – and runways – that’s shared with some of the world’s biggest stars. It means representation and recognition for all women who play the game and is a powerful demonstration of the prominence of women’s football globally in recent times.
Featuring Fowler on the runway goes further than just exposure for the game, the representation of a player like her travels miles. Young girls within the footballing world, women of colour like Fowler, and other global athletes are able to see someone they resonate with platformed on a global stage.
Fowler told Refinery29 how she
“Wanted to show little girls who look like me that they’re enough just the way they are.”
Representation of these groups matter, seeing a footballer that looks the same as you receive these significant opportunities is empowering to young female athletes and girls, especially since Fowler is the first footballer to receive such an invite.
Fowler’s presence at Paris Fashion week is a testament to the rise of popularity of women’s football. To see a footballer alongside superstars on a global stage displays how large the game has grown and how important it is to many. Her presence signifies that there is a space for women in sport that deserves to be recognised as opposed to overlooked and that these opportunities are merely the beginning to display this.
https://www.refinery29.com/en-au/mary-fowler-paris-fashion-week-loreal-le-defile
