Tom Daley has launched a limited-edition fashion collection with British artist and designer Patrick Church.
The collaboration is titled Head Over Heels, although the reaction to its campaign photographs suggests the name could equally describe Daley’s admirers.
The collection combines Church’s emotionally expressive queer artwork with the relaxed summer style that has become increasingly associated with Daley’s life after competitive diving.
Its pieces include colorful striped pajamas embroidered with small diving figures, boxer shorts, retro gym shorts, a tank top, a fitted T-shirt and a knitted sweater vest.
The range also includes socks, an embroidered cap, a tote bag and two original artworks.
Prices on Church’s British store range from £28 for the socks to £175 for the embroidered pajamas, while the original paintings are priced considerably higher.
The clothing may be the product, but Daley’s campaign photographs quickly became the main event.
One image shows him lying shirtless in bed with the pajama top open and the coordinating trousers sitting low around his waist.
Another has him reclining in a wooden chair wearing only the collection’s striped boxer shorts.
Daley also models a fitted retro shirt while lifting it to reveal his stomach beside a swimming pool.
In perhaps the most deliberately theatrical image, he stands inside the water wearing denim shorts and a vest decorated with stylized diving figures.
The photographs were taken by fashion photographer Dylan Perlot and present Daley as considerably more than a retired athlete reluctantly modelling merchandise.
He appears completely aware of the effect being created and comfortable combining his familiar wholesome image with something more openly sensual.
Daley said the collaboration had been a long time coming because he had admired Church’s work for years.
Church was equally enthusiastic and said it was nearly impossible to grow up in the United Kingdom without falling in love with Daley.
He also described Daley as enormously supportive throughout his development as an artist and designer.
The pair reportedly spent approximately one year creating the capsule collection together.
Church is a British multimedia artist who lives and works in New York City.
His practice deliberately blurs the division between art and fashion while combining emotional vulnerability with a bold and fearless visual identity.
His journey into clothing began when he hand-painted garments for himself to wear on nights out.
After moving to New York, he developed the distinctive faces and figures that now appear across his paintings, clothing and accessories.
Church formally founded his brand with his husband, Adriel Church-Herrera, in 2018.
Daley’s involvement also feels like a natural continuation of the creative career he has been building alongside sport.
He became internationally famous as a teenager after representing Great Britain at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Daley eventually competed at five Olympic Games and collected one gold, one silver and three bronze medals.
He retired from competitive diving after winning silver with Noah Williams in the synchronized 10-metre platform event at Paris 2024.
Long before retiring, Daley had already developed an unexpected second public identity through knitting and crochet.
Images of him knitting while watching events at the Tokyo Olympics became one of the Games’ most memorable off-field moments.
He subsequently created the craft brand Made With Love, published patterns and presented his knitted work in an exhibition in Tokyo.
Daley also designed and hand-knitted distinctive scarves and hats for Team GB’s flagbearers at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The Patrick Church collaboration moves him further from hobbyist crafting and more firmly into fashion design and modelling.
It also allows both men to play with familiar perceptions of Daley.
He remains the polite British Olympic champion, devoted father and enthusiastic knitter familiar to a mainstream audience.
He is also a confident gay man in his thirties who appears entirely comfortable reclining in boxer shorts while thousands of followers temporarily forget that a tote bag is available.
The collection may officially consist of pajamas, clothing and accessories.
The campaign sells something equally important: queer playfulness, confidence and the freedom to be wholesome and sexy at precisely the same time.
Patrick Church loves Tom Daley.
Judging by the reaction online, he is far from alone.
📷 @tomdaley / @patrickchurchny
🎬 Prefer video? Subscribe to B-Gay on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@BGaycom
