History of the Poker Masters Purple Jacket

The Poker Masters has captured the imagination of players ever since it originated back in 2018. Billed as a week of tournament poker at the highest stakes, the series has seen four winners, with Steffen Sontheimer taking the title in its inaugural year, Ali Imsirovic winning in 2018, Sam Soverel winning in 2019 and Alexandros Kolonias taking down the Poker Masters Online Series in 2020.

While everyone has been desperate to win the iconic Purple Jacket that is awarded to each series winner, what was behind the design of what is the most unique poker trophy in the world? Waraire Boswell, designer of the Poker Masters Purple Jacket told us all about the most inimitable of poker prizes.

“Every poker trophy is different.”

What Waraire Boswell tried to create when tasked with creating the Poker Masters Purple Jacket may be obvious, but only because we now see what he has achieved – a unique, iconic look to a highly wearable yet timeless fashionable piece of clothing. The motivation for the creation of the Purple Jacket was to make a player feel like they were “King for a day” as Boswell reveals, and that deep purple velvet color and texture of the final product were crucial.

How do you blend something timelessly classic such as velvet, which conjures up images of the past, while creating something so clearly modern and cutting edge? The material has a real part to play.

“Fabric speaks,” says Boswell in the video below. “The way something is cut is equally important as the fabric.

“I equate the purple with the purse.”

Speaking of giving the winner the look of generational wealth is an intuitive way of recognizing that the winner of the Purple Jacket can’t do so by winning one poker event but by being the most consistent player in a series of high roller buy-in events – a feat that demands respect not only from the other players in competition for the title but others who will look back upon the historical achievements of poker legends Sontheimer, Imsirovic, Soverel, and Kolonias.

Part of the apparel appeal of the Purple Jacket is married to the venue in which the award of the Poker Masters championship prize takes place.

“It’s at such a great setting in the ARIA Hotel,” says Boswell, The jacket actually being the trophy… it’s important that it’s not fast fashion.”

“It’s important to create something that’s timeless.”

Years from now, players will certainly continue to aspire to be wearing the famous Purple Jacket they can only wear by being the Poker Masters champion. Boswell hopes that his iconic design goes down in poker history as well as the archives of fabulous fashions worn in the 21^st century.

“When people think of the best things that winners in sporting events received, it would be great then to mention this jacket – there’s no better story than that.”

Enriching the Poker Masters story every year, the master of elite fashion that merges timeless looks with contemporary artistic design in the fashion industry is clearly Waraire Boswell.

Each incumbent Poker Masters winner knows that when they slip their arms into those immaculate sleeves and feel the Purple Jacket envelop them, they will become a part of poker history as well as standing as the latest symbol of poker success during the hardest age in which to achieve it.

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