By: Tres Dean | Link to article
Lamine Yamal is on top of the world. Since 2024, when he won the UEFA European Championship with Spain’s national squad, the young superstar has been on a truly legendary tear of back-to-back La Liga titles with FC Barcelona, a Ballon d’Or runner-up in 2025, and most recently the trophy of all trophies: a World Cup win against Lionel Messi’s Argentina over the summer. At just 19 years old, he’s got the sport in the palm of his hands. Where does the player of his generation go from here? Well, aside from a potential third consecutive La Liga win this season, the answer is a 28-piece fashion collection for American Eagle. For his first clothing collection, Yamal, long a figurehead of Gen-Z fashion, approached the project with the same focus and energy as his on-pitch performance. “I wanted it to feel authentic, not just put my name on something,” he told GQ ahead of the release.
Yamal’s relationship with clothing has changed quite a bit since he first emerged on the world stage in that fateful 2024 Euro campaign. He was just 16 years old then, an age at which most kids still rely on a parent to buy them a pair of sneakers to last the school year. Yamal, on the other hand, suddenly had access to all the resources in the world to create his wardrobe. “I get [wardrobe] inspiration from everywhere, really,” he says. “But I don’t really try to copy one person. I’ll take something I like and make it my own.” For Yamal, the key to getting dressed seems to be simply not overthinking it, not even with all the extra eyes on the fits he chooses. “I [didn’t] feel that pressure,” he insists. “I just like clothes, so for me it’s fun. The main thing is just feeling comfortable and feeling like myself.”
Like any teenager, Yamal’s style has evolved significantly since he was 16. “I think I’m more confident with it now,” he muses. “I’ve always liked oversized clothes and baggy pants, but now I’m just having more fun with it.” The AE collection leans into this, drawing from Yamal’s nascent sense of style. “For me, the fit was the most important thing,” he explains. “I don’t want it to feel like you’re wearing clothes that are way too big.” He and the team at AE honed in on this early in the process. “At the first shoot,” he recalls, “The AE team was asking me how I like things to fit and looking at the clothes I was wearing, and then we built it from there.” The result is a collection of easy-to-style casual pieces that feel boxy—maybe even slouchy—but never baggy.
The collection is anchored by some elite cropped flannels and a workwear-inspired jacket (Yamal’s favorite piece of the lot, he says), though if you ask us, the standouts are a knit tank top, some football kit-inspired knit tees, and a striped AE button-down that looks like a vibier version of that shirt you wore to house parties in high school. The collection is sophisticated without feeling grown-up, which is exactly what you’d want from a 19-year-old fashion and football wunderkind.
One thing you won’t find in the lineup, however, is a bag. Yamal’s become one of the most notable luxury bag collectors in the world of sport, with a collection of Hermès, Chanel, and Bottega pieces that can give Erling Haaland a run for his money. “I just like how much a bag can change an outfit,” Yamal says when asked what drew him to bags over watches, sneakers, and other such high-end collectibles. “You can wear a really simple look and then add a good bag, and it looks completely different.” Like his wardrobe, he doesn’t overthink the collection or keep a wishlist in his phone’s Notes app, taking more of a “you know it when you see it” approach to his acquisitions. “I don’t know which one I’ll get next. If I see one I really like, then maybe.”
Whatever the future of Yamal’s partnership with AE looks like, it feels safe to say that no two collections will be alike. Yamal is growing up, his tastes are evolving, and he’s the first to admit he has no idea what his wardrobe might look like one, two, or three years down the line. As he puts it, “My style is going to keep changing, so I’m curious to see what I’ll be wearing in a few years, too.”