Lifestyle, News trend
@LeagueFits Is the Instagram Account Putting Basketball Fashion Into the Spotlight
Nov
There might not be many parallels between the worlds of fashion and basketball, but one similarity is that the players have their very own runway: the tunnel. It’s the section between the parking lot and the court, the much-lensed space where players arrive to the game and strut their stuff in their own off-duty attire. Now the Instagram account @LeagueFits is celebrating these “fits,” archiving what players wear to events and how they style themselves on their personal Instagram accounts. On the @LeagueFits feed, one of the most recent images includes Kelly Oubre Jr. of the Phoenix Suns sporting a handful of glittering diamond necklaces, a midnight black button-down, silk pants with flames licking up the bottoms, and a pair of matching flame Converses. Another upload shows Tobias Haris of the Philadelphia 76ers in a graphic hoodie courtesy of Kith, sweatpants by Thom Browne, and Nike sneakers. LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers wears an Honor the Gift T-shirt, a label by fellow basketball player Russell Westbrook of the Houston Rockets. Meanwhile Ben Simmons, also of the 76ers, struts out in a bandana-print puffer coat by Noah, a Casablanca T-shirt, faded jeans, a tiny Burberry bag, and Nike shoes. Under this image, one distressed comment reads in all caps: “THIS JACKET SOLD OUT AND IM FUCKING MAD” [sic].
Since its inception in March 2018, @LeagueFits has become the basketball world’s equivalent to the phenomenon of celebrity-street-style-dedicated Instagram accounts. The account boasts over 351,000 followers and includes a range of players, from household names to lesser-known, oft-benched faces. The account was created by two employees of the iconic basketball magazine Slam, associate social media editor Ian Pierno and head of content Adam Figman. “Style and the NBA have been intertwined forever, but it’s really been a hot subject the past four or five years,” says Figman. The creation of @LeagueFits came three months before LeBron James (then of the Cleveland Cavaliers) stepped out wearing the Thom Browne suit seen round the world before a game against the Golden State Warriors. While James had worn a Thom Browne suit before, this time he shirked his pants for shorts: Standing at six feet eight, James donned itty-bitty above-the-knee shorts, pulled-up socks, and a pert little blazer. In fact the whole Cleveland Cavaliers team wore their own incarnations of the Thom Browne suit—a major moment for the intersection of sports and fashion. “I remember after we had started it [@LeagueFits] was when they [the Cavaliers] all started wearing the same suits,” Pierno said. “I thought it was the coolest thing ever because they looked so uniform. Everyone put their own spin on it. A few of the guys, like LeBron, cut the suit pants and made it into shorts. Jordan Clarkson did that too and wore it with Jordans. That is what put Thom Browne on the map for me.” Players are plugged into wider, more daring menswear trends as well—just this past week, following in the footsteps of A$AP Rocky, Frank Ocean, and football player Cam Newton, Clarkson wore a charming silk babushka knotted under his chin.
As Figman notes, fashion and basketball have long been connected. Of course there are the legendary styles of Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan, both of whom @LeagueFits celebrates in throwback posts. On a more contemporary note, while players such as Westbrook and James are recognized in the fashion world and have even attended their fair share of runway shows, @LeagueFits has offered a space for less high-profile NBA players to let their style shine—and along the way many of these role players have ended up gaining the biggest fandoms. “I think you’d expect the guys like LeBron James and James Harden or Giannis [Antetokounmpo], the guys who are contending for MVP every year, to get the most engagement,” says Pierno. “But it’s also the guys who maybe haven’t been to an All-Star Game, like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dennis Schroder on the [Oklahoma City] Thunder, or Dwayne Bacon on the Charlotte Hornets—the guys who maybe come off the bench for their team, but they’ve blown up because of @LeagueFits. They’ve kind of found a little lane in the basketball community to have fans.” Unlike James or Westbrook, Gilgeous-Alexander, Schroeder, and Bacon will fill up much of their personal feeds with outfit pics. Bacon’s style volleys from cheeky to polished: a Mighty Ducks hockey jersey one day and the next a romantic floral-print button-up. Gilgeous-Alexander prefers smaller labels, such as the Bentgablenits, which remixes Nike’s swoosh symbol with lace and crocheted trims. Schroder is the most eccentric of the trio: Back in April during a playoff game, he stepped out in a half-graphic, half-striped T-shirt-and-short set, complete with orange socks and a baby blue Louis Vuitton bag. (Many comments read along the lines of “Hanging out too much with Westbrook.”)
Though the Instagram mostly showcases NBA players, there are cameos from some WNBA players too; mostly Tamera “Ty” Young and Elizabeth “Liz” Cambage, both of the Las Vegas Aces. Back in September, while en route to a game, Young stepped out in a full tap-for-credits outfit that included a red Keith and James hat, Givenchy sunglasses, a Saks suit, and a shirt with a photo of her mother and her. She carried Nike Air Yeezy 1s in hand and walked in Travis Scott Air Jordan 1 Lows. (“Ty Young is the sneaker queen of the WNBA and of basketball in general,” says Pierno.) Her teammate, Cambage, stepped out in a black suit, strappy heels, and a black medical mask. “The WNBA is the most fashionable sports league in the world,” says Pierno.
As in any community, there are various trends that the pair behind @LeagueFits has observed since they launched the account. “Guys really strive for comfort in the tunnel. Fifteen years ago dudes had to wear suits, but now they are striving to be as fashionable as possible while still being comfortable. It makes sense because they’re on the road all the time. After the game they might be hopping back into that same outfit and going straight to the airport to fly to their next city.” The comfort-minded outfits of basketball players led @LeagueFits to create the hashtag #CozyFam, which currently has thousands of tagged photos. Pierno and Figman note that Christos New York luxe sweatpants, Balenciaga hoodies, and Off-White garb are the most popular pieces within the NBA. Other labels to watch are Nick Young’s own merch line Most Hated (“Players support one another,” says Pierno) and Westbrook’s label Honor the Gift, and there’s a growing affinity for rare vintage T-shirts, with fans including Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The boom of fashion within the NBA is relatively recent, and there wasn’t always the amount of room for self-expression as there is now. In 2005 the NBA instituted a dress code for players to wear “business casual” attire to games and team or league functions. The organization banned chains and pendants outside of a shirt, baggy pants, and headgear, which was considered a response to the styles of Allan Iverson and Carmelo Anthony. (Many players, including Iverson, criticized the dress code, calling it racist and noting that it disproportionately targeted black players.) Pierno adds that while the NBA never formally disbanded their dress code, the organization has relaxed its rules. “They kind of turned a blind eye towards the dress code and started letting the guys do whatever they want,” says Pierno. “Then Russell Westbrook probably was the one player that really started going crazy in the tunnel. Then there was Dwyane Wade, Amar’e Stoudemire, guys who were very much like, ‘We are fashion experts. We go to fashion shows and sit front row.’ Then there was the Nick Young and James Harden era, which started to make it fun, and from there it just snowballed.” Now, years later and after many transformations within the league, the room for players to show off their fits seems limitless—and with Instagram as a platform, the public’s fascination with basketball fashion has never been greater.
