Djibril Cisse and wife Jude on their fashion dream

Feb 7 2009 By Katharine Everitt, The Journal

FUN, flamboyant and fashion-mad, Sunderland striker Djibril Cissé and his wife Jude make for entertaining company. Katharine Capocci caught up with the couple at their new boutique in Newcastle.

MEETING Djibril and Jude Cissé at their new designer boutique in Newcastle, it’s clear the flamboyant pair are in their element.

The stylish couple are absolutely fashion-mad, so to have their own boutique packed with rack upon rack of designer labels is the realisation of a dream – although it has to be said they both have very different ideas on fashion.

Today is a case in point. Sunderland striker Djib, 27, is dressed in typical colourful style in Red Monkey jeans, black patent leather Supra trainers and custom-made leather, purple and cream baseball jacket, decorated with badges of mini-Djibs complete with trademark peroxide hair.

“The clothes I’m wearing at the moment aren’t in fashion,” says Djib, who was born and raised in France, his family originating from the Ivory Coast. “It’s my own fashion, I wear what I feel comfortable in.

“The boutique is something I’ve had planned for a while. I come after training for a few hours, have a mooch around and go back home.”

Jude, 33, on the other hand, looks classy and cool in black Chloe sleeveless top and tight-fitting Tag trousers that show off long legs and her tiny size six frame, along with Strut Couture ankle boots.

She is also sporting a rather blingy but gorgeous eternity ring, with large heart-shaped diamond, a surprise Christmas present from Djib.

“I have always been slim and when I was younger I used to go out in hot pants, but as you mature and particularly when you’re a mum, your style evolves,” says Jude, who has a weakness for designer labels like Chloe, Amanda Wakeley and Balenciaga shoes.

“We are very different, opposites you might say,” says Djib, who is the youngest of seven children.

The former Liverpool player, who is currently at Sunderland on a loan arrangement, arrived in the region last August from Marseilles.

He appears almost shy, although he takes numerous calls on his Blackberry, with its multi-coloured jewel-encrusted cover, when Jude and I are chatting.

It comes as little surprise to find the boutique, called The Pr9ject, in Forth Street, is actually Djib’s very own project. The flamboyant striker is probably as well known for his dress sense, tattoos and his hair colour (he’s variously been blond, blue and red in the past), as much for his prowess on the pitch.

His peroxide hair is gone although the blond beard is still in evidence. “At the moment my hair is not normal,” says Djib, who scored at last week’s Tyne-Wear derby at St James’s Park, taking Sunderland ahead before Newcastle equalised.

He’s the man, after all, who wed Jude four years ago in a red suit with matching trilby, white shoes and carrying a black and silver cane. And all captured in a Hello! photoshoot.

His love of tattoos is legendary, he has two on his head (ouch!) and his upper body is covered in them.

There are angel wings across his back, symbolising his name (Djibril means Gabriel in Islam). And he has his three children’s names spelled out on his body – his daughter Ilona, seven, from a previous relationship, and his two children with Jude, Cassius, two-and-a-half, and baby son Prince Kobe, who has just turned six months.

For the baby he had a crown and his name etched on his back. And he also has Jude’s name spelled out in big letters.

Djib says: “I’ve just had another tattoo done a few days ago, it’s the logo for my new design label Kiss of Death.”

This particular one features a mouth, nose and two wings for the face, etched on his inner thigh.

His tattooist did the latest in the comfort of the couple’s second home in Ponteland. Djib admits it still hurt badly, even though you might think he’d be used to the pain.

The couple’s main home is a manor house in Frodsham, Cheshire, from Djib’s days playing for Liverpool. It is also Jude’s main base with their two children, and her other son, Liam, aged 14.

It comes with swimming pool, tennis courts, stables and 10 acres of land, and they are known as Lord and Lady of Frodsham, titles which date back to the Domesday Book, and which were bestowed on the couple when they took the deeds.

Jude doesn’t take any of it too seriously, though, and even has a couple of thrones in the house, purely for pose factor!

A fuller version of this interview appears in February’s North East Exclusive magazine, which can be purchased from Fenwick and WHSmith, price £2.50. Or read the full interview online at www.northeastexclusive.co.uk

The clothes I'm wearing at the moment aren't in fashion. It's my own, I wear what I feel comfortable in.