Claire Kittle Talks Game Day Style, the Super Bowl, and What Comes Next

Jeff Kravitz

Before Taylor Swift was putting on a fashion show from the sidelines of the Chiefs’ games every weekend, there was Claire Kittle.

Kittle is the 29-year-old wife of George Kittle, the longtime tight end for the 49ers. Yes, tight end is the same position Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, plays on the Chiefs. In fact the two are friendly—Kelce and Kittle are founding members of Tight End University.

But it would be a reductive to refer to Claire Kittle as the “Taylor of the 49ers.” For the sliver of the Venn diagram where “NFL fans” and “fashion lovers” overlap, Kittle is a household name. And her legend is every bit deserved.

Along with her fellow 49ers WAG Kristin Juszczyk, Kittle has been redefining the very idea of Game Day Style. Gone are the days of oversize jerseys from the stadium gift shop. In 2024, WAGs are going all out.

For Kittle, every Sunday during the season is a chance to show off a different side of her style: There’s Posh Claire in black-and-white Louboutin knee-highs, a slinky black catsuit, and a floor-length leather trench coat; Sporty Claire in a pair of vintage 49ers boxing shorts and a trucker hat; and Fashion Claire in a pair of custom-made feather-embellished jeans à la Bottega Veneta’s $18,000 pair.

The only guarantee? Whatever she wears is gonna be a serve.

“I love to just pull different pieces that kind of catch my eye,” Kittle tells Glamour of her chameleonic style a little over a week before the 49ers face the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII. “I don’t like to exactly put myself into a box, because I like to mix it up. I like to wear an all-black outfit, and then I like to wear neon heels with something else that’s completely different. As long as I put it together and I feel good, that’s the most important thing to me.”

On the phone she’s relaxed and forthcoming. She’s every bit the down-to-earth girl her good friend turned stylist Leigh Taylor Richardson described her to be.

“The fame that comes with the territory does not register at all to her. It’s truly the most refreshing,” says Richardson. “Claire is equally as confident wearing a shirt from Amazon as she is wearing something from a brand that sent it to her straight off the runway, and I feel like that’s so rare.”

Richardson, who’s worked with Kittle since they met at a gym in Nashville several years ago, says Kittle’s style is more impulse driven than calculated. She just knows what she wants. Take, for example, the festive red Alex Perry suit she wore to the Christmas game. Turns out, it was a suit Richardson had bought for herself.

“I overnighted this Alex Perry suit for myself and these little 85s to put on the lapel,” explains Richardson, “and I wore this exact outfit to a game. I ordered two suits [to try them on for size], and so she kept the other one. I gave her the 85s off my lapel.”

Adds Kittle, “I was like, ‘I’m so wearing this for the Christmas game. This is absolutely perfect.’”

When she’s not shopping her stylist’s own closet, Kittle sources from vintage retailers, which she’ll scour for the perfectly well-worn tee or rare memorabilia. Richardson also helps her keep her closet well-stocked for events or other professional engagements, and Kittle will often incorporate any unworn pulls into her Game Day look.

Her visibility—especially as the 49ers have dominated over the last few years—has afforded her the luxury of having custom pieces, such as the varsity-style leather jacket from sports icon Jeff Hamilton, sent her way.

“There are five Super Bowl dates on it, and on the back it says, ‘Five Time Champion,’” Kittle says of the jacket. “When [Hamilton] sent it to me, I was talking to him on the phone, I’m like, ‘Okay, so you’ll edit this?” And he goes, ‘Yeah, oh absolutely. I’ll edit that.’ It’ll be sick if that comes to fruition. When that comes to fruition.”

Back in January the Kittles partnered with Levi’s—which bought the naming rights to the 49ers home stadium in 2013—for an upgraded take on a Canadian tuxedo. Richardson is largely responsible for the his-and-hers looks, which read like a love letter to their relationship. Both sets are tailored by Rachael Marie and hand-painted by Ty Christian with references to their relationship, such as the dates of both their engagement and wedding; George Kittle’s nickname for Claire, “Lettey”; and some of the tattoos he has, such as Master Chief from Halo and Calvin and Hobbes.

On Instagram, Kittle’s 234,000 followers gush over her ensembles as well as her relationship with both her husband and her fellow 49ers WAGs. (When she poses with the likes of Juszczyk and Olivia Culpo, fans beg for a Housewives-style reality show.) Thankfully, she hasn’t faced too much negativity—even from opposing fandoms.

“I think George’s entire career, people have loved him,” she says. “He’s the same person you’ve seen since he’s been a rookie in the media as he is today. He is fun-loving. He’s good at what he does. He’s remained at the top of his position across the league for as long as he’s been here, for seven years. And I think people can see that genuine side of him, and love how he plays the game and his work ethic. So even if we go to an away game and it’s the opposing team’s fans, they’re like, ‘I love your husband. I love you. You guys are great.’ All these things. ‘We would love to have him on our team.’ So that has been amazing because that doesn’t happen to everybody and that doesn’t happen everywhere.”

Also obsessed with Kittle? Her husband. Though they’ve been together since they were both student athletes at the University of Iowa (she’s a former basketball star, with the 6-foot stature to prove it), she still giggles describing their “weird” pregame ritual.

“He always comes over to hug [his family], give me a kiss, and I give him a big shove to send him back into the locker room,” she says, sounding bashful. “And he just loves that. The idea was I was providing the first hit [of the game], and he’s getting ready, and it’s a pump-up thing. I don’t know. We’re both athletes, so it’s kind of weird, but it works for us.”

When I ask about her post-NFL future, Kittle, ever the supportive WAG, answers for her husband.

“If you were to ask him this, and he’s been asked this question before, his answer is always, ‘I just want to be a dad,’” she says. “So obviously we want to have children, and just, the goal is always work really hard now so that when that moment comes, and you can retire, and you do retire, that’s exactly what it is. You’re retired.”

Though they’ve made a home in San Francisco, where the tight end has played for seven years, their hearts are in Nashville. The couple has owned a home there for several years, and it is where they plant to raise their future brood.

As for Kittle herself, she hints at dipping a toe in the fashion industry eventually, though nothing is confirmed yet. For now she’s paying attention to what’s in front of her: the Super Bowl.

“I think different doors are going to open when he does retire, and it is so chaotic and fast in the season that my priorities are him,” she says. “And I think that’s important to, like I said before, keep at the forefront.”

And as for what she’ll be wearing? “It’s kind of like a silver moment. I haven’t done silver yet,” Kittle hints. “I’m like, ‘Okay, I’ll be like the Lombardi Trophy. That’s perfect.’”

Originally Appeared on Glamour