Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion

Equal parts stunning, photo-heavy look book and cultural commentary, Fly is the story of the undeniable intersection of high fashion and basketball.

Organized by era, each section is broken down by the style of the time and the cultural influence surrounding it: beginning with the league’s inception in 1949, pre–civil rights movement — when the NBA was mostly white players who wore suits and skinny ties. From the years following the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the birth of funk and R&B when basketball fashion got flashier, with some players wearing fur coats and big hats (think Walt Clyde Frazier and Wilt Chamberlain), to the Michael Jordan era of the 80s and 90s, with big, oversize suits. And on to the epic Iverson or Hip-Hop Era, in the early 2000s, with the birth of the “tunnel walk.”

Today, athletes are idealized not only as fashion icons but also social activists. We’re talking about the biggest names: Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Dwyane Wade, and Lebron James (who could forget his “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirt). The conversationis no longer limited to athletic performance or what these athletes are wearing — they are expressing their fashion sense in what has become an important cultural moment.