A game of clothes! Superstars express themselves
>> INDIANAPOLIS: The Cleveland Cavaliers, with an assist from a New Yorkbased designer, made their first big play on Friday night just by entering the arena. As they paraded into Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis before Game 3 of their play-off series with the Indiana Pacers, the Cavaliers wore coordinated ensembles: madeto-measure suits, ties, shoes, bags and eyewear by Thom Browne.
The scheme was hatched a while ago by Dwyane Wade and Browne, then kept alive by LeBron James after Wade was traded back to the Miami Heat in February.
“All of us suiting up together was just a new idea and something we all wanted to try,” James, a four-time winner of the league’s Most Valuable Player Award, wrote in an email.
For players at the top of the professional basketball food chain, just showing up has become an opportunity to preen. No matter that the corridors may be lined with trash cans. The walk from the team bus to the locker room is a runway, with attendant paparazzi.
“It’s become a way to one-up each other,” said Calyann Barnett, a stylist who works with players like Wade and the Pelicans’ Rajon Rondo. “It’s become almost like high school. Who’s going to have on the best outfit? Everyone’s going for that Best Dressed. Now, what is Best Dressed? It’s as many labels as you can throw on.”
The Cavaliers intend to wear the suits for away games for the remainder of the postseason — however long that may last for the team.
The modern era of the label-flexing player began with the institution of the NBA dress code in 2005, widely seen as an attempt by David Stern, then the commissioner, to curb styles like baggy jeans and do-rags that were worn by players like the former Philadelphia 76er Allen Iverson. The code mandated “business casual.”
But the rules are broadly interpreted, and the league has issued a few warnings to players who pushed the limit this season.
Today’s superstars, multimillionaires enjoying their bounties, have cultivated a taste for the finer things: wine, cars, jewellery, luxury fashion. Once hobbies like these occupied the offseason. Now, the lines blur. Courtside at Fashion Week, front row at the arena — what’s the difference, really?
“Expressing myself through fashion is such an important part of my NBA experience,” James said.
“It’s really another way to have fun and experience my love for the game.”