Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion

(Hardback)

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Equal parts stunning, photo-heavy look book and cultural commentary,Flyis 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 leagues inception in 1949, precivil rights movementwhen 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.Weretalking about the biggest names: Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Dwyane Wade, and Lebron James (who could forget his I Cant Breathe T-shirt). The conversationis no longer limited to athletic performance or what these athletes are wearingthey are expressing their fashion sense in what has become an important cultural moment.

Reviews

"Acoffee-table book that elevates the subject to the same decorative status as a Dior or Gucci monograph"The New York Times
"Acoffee-table book that elevates the subject to the same decorative status as a Dior or Gucci monograph."The New York Times
a gorgeous, glamorous look at the intersection of fashion and basketball.Bookpage
a gorgeous, glamorous look at the intersection of fashion and basketball.Bookpage
"stunning photos and spot on cultural commentary"The Root
"Stunning photos and spot on cultural commentary."The Root

Mitchell S. Jackson expertly fuses fashion and basketball, showing why players off court style can be as impactful as what they do in the game. NINA GARCIA, editor in chief,Elle

In Fly, Jackson does more than compile a basketball/fashion look book, and its more than a timeline and history. To me, what he explores is the evergreen push to remind people that the talented are more than their talents. That theres a burning creativity and a relentless desire to express oneself, not as a highlight but as a human.JASON REYNOLDS, #1New York Timesbestselling coauthor ofStamped

You cannot be a true enthusiast of sports or fashion if you dont own a copy of this book. European designers are too often credited with the trends that spread around the world, and Jackson shows us that those designs are nothing without validation from the streets where many NBA athletes get their start. In this beautiful celebration of culture, he captures the role these athletes have played in style on a global scale. D. WATKINS,New York Timesbestselling author ofWhere Tomorrows Arent PromisedandBlack Boy Smile

NBA fashion has evolved so much over the years. To see the various styles worn by players throughout the erasall in one bookis cool. Now with social media and the game being so global, everyone sees everything. NBA fashion has never been bigger. P.J. TUCKER, Philadelphia 76ers

Author Bio

Mitchell S. Jacksonis the winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing and the 2021 National Magazine Award in Feature Writing. Jackson is the critically acclaimed author ofThe Residue Years,Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family, andJohn of Watts(to be published soon). His other honors include fellowships, grants, and awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Creative Capital, the Cullman Center of the New York Public Library, the Lannan Foundation, the Ford Foundation, PEN America, TED, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Center for Fiction. His writing has been featured on the cover of theNew York Times Book Review,Time,Esquire, andMarie Claire, as well as inThe New Yorker,Harpers,The New York Times,The New York Times Magazine,The Paris Review,The Guardian,The Washington Post Magazine,Harpers Bazaar, and elsewhere. Jacksons nonfiction bookSurvival Mathwas published in 2019 and named a best book of the year by fifteen publications, including NPR,Time,The Paris Review,The Root,Kirkus Reviews, and Buzzfeed. His next novelJohn of Wattswill be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Jackson is a contributing writer for theNew York Times Magazine, covers race and culture as the first Black columnist in the history ofEsquire, and serves as the John O. Whiteman Deans Distinguished Professor in the English Department of Arizona State University.