D3 THE NEW DREAM TEAM
Dwyane Wade’s next chapter.
The evolution of basketball goes something like this: In 1891, Dr. James Naismith cuts the bottom out of a peach basket and convinces some turn-of-the-century bros to pin back their moustaches and shoot a leather soccer ball into his homemade hoop. (Thank you, Canada Heritage Minutes.) Some 50 years later the NBA is formed, and players learn to dunk, become stars, start earning dollars and begin stunting with reckless abandon. If you think the off-court outfits of modern NBA players are outlandish, go back and look at the April 4, 1974, issue of JET Magazine. All-timer Walt “Clyde” Frazier is on the cover, wearing fur, a wide-brimmed felt hat, a knitted turtleneck and the confidence of a two-time NBA champion with a flawlessly manicured beard the colour of Vantablack.
“Those guys dressed sharp,” says Dwyane Wade, shooting guard for the Chicago Bulls. He’s on a call talking about a new capsule collection he co-designed with Londonbased Canadian designers Dean and Dan Caten of Dsquared2 exclusively for Saks Fifth Avenue. The conversation shifts to the long-established sartorial splendour of the NBA and his own role in helping spark a new golden age of fashion in the league. “I think we restarted something that was already being done before us,” he says. The other half of “we” Wade is referring to is former teammate and longtime BFF LeBron James. Back when Wade and James played for the Miami Heat (from 2010 to 2014), their competitive nature spilled over into the dressing room.
Wade says that the roots of his style renaissance extend back to former NBA commissioner David Stern’s infamous dress code, which was instituted in 2005, two years after Wade joined the league. The dress code caught flak for being a reactionary attempt to distance the NBA from the hip-hop-era style that Allen Iverson had ushered in. For Wade, the dress code was motivation to start taking his personal style more seriously. If he couldn’t wear a track suit to the arena anymore, he would gun for the best-dressed list.
By the time James took his talents to South Beach, Wade’s love of fashion had taken off. He became a regular at fashion shows, and he and James became the fashion-tag-team champions of the NBA. Suddenly the strut into the arena from the team bus became the game-day equivalent of a Zoolander walk-off. “Guys were trying to outdo each other,” says Wade. “It became kind of a cool competition
between us that turned into something more. The fashion world started to notice.”
In one memorable stretch during the 2013 NBA Playoffs, Wade busted out, in succession, a floral Versace jacket, a double-breasted Gucci suit with trousers cropped high on the ankle and a triple tangerine threat: orange trousers, an orange polo shirt and an orange cardigan.
While some on Twitter joked, Wade grew to embrace his love of fashion and his role as a trendsetter. “You got to be comfortable in your clothes,” he says. “I don’t worry myself or think about what somebody else might say about me. If I wear something and someone don’t like it, it’s ’cause it’s not for them and they don’t feel like they can pull it off. One of the coolest things is when you do something and somebody does make fun of it, and then you see it become something; you see more people doing it—more people taking a chance. That is what it’s all about: giving other people confidence that they can be themselves.”
Fast-forward to today and Wade has taken his love of fashion one step further—with the help of some old friends. Wade and his stylist, Calyann Barnett, met the Caten twins backstage at the Dsquared2 runway show during Milan Fashion Week in 2011. The group hit it off immediately, and Wade became a visible supporter of the diminutive design team. Wade is often spotted wearing Dsquared2’s latest, and the 12-time All-Star famously got the Catens to custom design the tuxedo he wore when he married actress Gabrielle Union in 2014. “When you form a relationship with someone, they get a feel for your personality and you get a feel for theirs,” he says. “They [Dean and Dan] already know how I am, how I like to dress and what looks good on me.” The notion of a capsule collection came together over lunch at Wade’s house in Miami. With the three friends’ style so closely aligned, someone pointed out that D2 could easily become D3: Dean, Dan and Dwyane. They began exchanging ideas and quickly settled on doing a joint collection.
Dwyane Wade for Dsquared2 is a ninepiece capsule that blends tailored pieces with a casual aesthetic. It includes tailored jogging pants, a biker jacket, a long-sleeved T-shirt featuring an oversized “3”—a nod to Wade’s jersey number—and a sparkly black tuxedo jacket. A follow-up capsule collection will be out later this year.
With Wade’s professional career winding down, fashion presents an opportunity for his post-playing career. “I couldn’t be more excited,” he says. “It’s something I’ve always wanted. I want to continue; I want to do more. I am excited to see the response.”