High Stakes Style: The Crossover Threads Connecting Fashion And Gambling

Although the worlds of fashion and gambling might seem disparate at first, there are actually many more connections than you might think. Although the swanky world of high stakes casinos makes the biggest thread, even online casinos have got in on the game. This is what you need to know about where the worlds of fashion and gambling collide. 

Where there’s money, fashion follows. Visit any high rollers’ room at a top global casino and you’ll find interiors designed in the maximalist opulence style, with patrons rocking sharp suits, luxury watches and designer brands aplenty. The fashion world has also embraced gambling. From luxury shopping outlets in large casino resorts in Las Vegas and Macau to whole high fashion collections themed around casino games.

Professional poker players are among the most well known gamblers and some have been known to flirt with modelling or fashion brand deals. Or just impress at the tables with their personal style.

Casinos as a Runway Communicate Wealth 

One of the key locations that helped connect fashion and gambling was undoubtedly Las Vegas. The US gambling hub’s 1990s pivot to large, luxury casino resorts over simpler, mass appeal casino hotels, saw Sin City head to the forefront of global high-end destinations.

That attracted fashionable people from all over the world, and the designers followed. Today luxury casino resorts like Wynn Las Vegas, The Bellagio and Caesars Palace feature boutique stores from brands like:

• Chanel
• Gucci
• Dior
• Prada
• Louis Vuitton

Las Vegas also set the blueprint for other luxury casino resort destinations. China’s Macau has even surpassed the original as a destination for luxury shopping, bringing in far more than Las Vegas in recent years.

Luckily for you though, you don’t have to visit Las Vegas to get the casino experience. With top online casino betway you’ll find awesome games from top developers that replicate the luxury casino vibe through your desktop or mobile device. Plus, great casino bonuses and promotions to get you into the games with some freebies.

The Las Vegas style luxury gambling resorts also set the blueprint for other casino destinations. China’s Macau has even surpassed the original as a destination for luxury shopping, bringing in far more revenue than Las Vegas in recent years.

Both resort destinations have also regularly played host to glitzy A-list events at their resort casinos, with attendees keen to be seen wearing the latest fashions and styles.

Poker Professionals Rock Rare Fabrics on the Felt

For many years, poker was distinctly not a fashionable game. It was mainly reserved for cowboy hat wearing, cigar-smoking old men in bootcut jeans in darkly lit casino backrooms.

But after the poker boom of the early 2000s and the game’s subsequent explosion onto TV (and now streaming), some poker professionals turned their money towards fashion.

Just a couple of professional card sharks playing for millions and known to look sharp while they’re at it include:

• Former TV presenter turned poker pro Liv Boeree
• Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier
• Marcel Luske
• Dan “Jungleman” Cates

Professional poker players who are into fashion have also been known to sport custom threads made for them by their poker sponsors.

Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier for example, has won three World Series of Poker bracelets and millions of dollars. He has been known to rock custom bomber jackets to events, either advertising his own business ventures or his poker sponsors, as well as avant-garde haircuts.

Marcel Luske is another poker player known for his style, but his is more traditional. Luske always appears in tailored Italian suits while at the tables, and often chooses to accompany them with outrageous designer sunglasses. Sometimes worn upside down.

From High Fashion to Branded Swag, Crossovers Are at All Levels 

In the world of high fashion, designers know many of their clientele can be seen at casinos – so they occasionally theme collections around the world of gambling.

Three examples of famous designers who have taken influence from gambling in certain collections are:

• Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel
• JW Anderson
• Gianni Versace

Chanel’s 2015 Winter/Fall collection, headed by the iconic Lagerfeld, was partly themed around gambling and card games, with casino stylings to the runway show including Chanel branded blackjack tables.

The JW Anderson Spring/Summer 2023 collection was also showcased in a casino arcade venue in fashionable Soho, London, a district home to many streetwear brand stores such as Palace, GOLF and Supreme. Models walked the improvised runway between slot machine games, and the audience sat on casino slot-style bar stools.

Outside of high fashion even online casinos have got in on the merch game. Online poker operators have successful merch lines, but online casinos also offer clothing merch too – sometimes through free promotions and loyalty rewards.

One final interesting area of crossover is soccer shirts. As you might have seen, soccer jerseys are increasingly popular in both high fashion and on the mass market in recent years. At the same time more clubs take on sponsorship deals from online gambling operators, putting them front and centre on shirts and hugely increasing their brand visibility on social media.

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