30-Day Countdown: Day 24 - Style Points

So far to this point we’ve been pretty serious about all of our 30-day countdown entries. And I’m known as the numbers and stats guy so you normally don’t expect anything but hard hitting analysis from me. However, sometimes you need to break out of your comfort zone. And it’s possible to give hard hitting analysis on something completely subjective, right?

You may have seen this week that Washington WR Puka Nacua is rocking some bright purple hair. That sparked the idea, what’s your favorite Husky-related fashion/body choice?

Puka Nacua’s Purple Hair

Nacua seems to have taken a lot of tips from another Husky WR who appears next on this list. Puka has shown up to training camp rocking some bright purple hair that gives absolutely no doubt as to whether he’s put a little color into it. The hair dye is a nice choice since it isn’t noticeable while you’re on the field but on the sidelines or off it is extremely prominent.

Puka loses a few points here because that shade of purple doesn’t really match the correct tone for the rest of the Husky gear. Especially next to the royal purple of the shirt he’s wearing it looks more pink than purple. But if you want it to stand out then sometimes you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. When you go with a style choice like this then it usually means you’re exceptionally confident in who you are. And we all expect that who Puka is, is a 1st team all-conference level receiver.

Dante Pettis Purple and Gold Hair

I mentioned that Puka is following in a UW wide receivers’ footsteps and it happens to be Dante Pettis. Pettis arrived to the Fiesta Bowl in 2017 with purple locks that also had some gold thrown in there for good measure. Dante tried to be more faithful in matching the school’s color scheme but he also didn’t go quite as far out there in order to ensure that it stood out. His hair style means that the sides don’t have the same level of curl and so didn’t end up part of the dye job. He also just doesn’t quite have the length that Puka’s locks are showing. But going through a pandemic where no one wants to go to get a haircut probably helped Nacua out in that regard.

Sidney Jones IV’s Husky Eyes Tattoo

I’m going to admit straight up front that I’m not a tattoo guy. I’m never going to knock anyone else for getting one but I personally don’t really understand the appeal. That said, this thing is awesome. The positioning of it means if you put your arm in front of your face that the eyes replace your eyes and help to convey the menacing look. Now Jones is a big dude but even his face isn’t quite that big so that effect doesn’t totally work but it’s still cool as a concept. And getting the eye spacing to match exactly would mean the tattoo is dramatically smaller.

Still, this is a good way to show off your Husky pride in a tattoo without just getting the logo. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but this definitely has some creativity to it and the lack of intricacy means it’s not going to look absolutely terrible as you get older and the design wasn’t going to be messed up by going to a cheaper tattoo artist. Maybe it takes a bit of explaining for those who aren’t aware of Sidney’s background to understand it but it doesn’t take that much. Props to Sidney.

Chris Petersen’s Wardrobe

Chris Petersen always had the reputation as someone who was pretty straight laced. His no nonsense approach with the media probably had a lot to do with that. But players insist that Pete could definitely have fun on occasion and perhaps it was never as evident than in some of his clothing decisions. The camo pants were a classic look although surprisingly absent of photos on twitter. I had to resort to Lars’ bigfoot-esque quality shot.

Is it a coincidence that the appearance of the purple and gold Hawaiian-style shirt that Pete wore coincided with Washington dominating recruiting in the islands the next year? Probably, but it was certainly a great look and at the very least helped reel in Taki Taimani in the photo above.