- What's up GQ?
I'm Allen Onyia.
And today we're gonna be breaking down
the first class of inductees
into the GQ Sports Style Hall of Fame.
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Allen Iverson,
Deion Sanders,
and Derek Jeter.
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Well, there was Jordan and then there was Allen Iverson.
From the arm sleeve, from LeBron
to Russell to Shai Gilgeous, like all the athletes now.
It's like the arm sleeve is part of their uniform,
in a sense.
Allen Iverson, you know, has to get top nod for that.
His headband, like, how can you even
get that outta your mind?
Anytime I see anybody wearing a headband,
I think of Allen Iverson.
His style was infectious,
obviously tattoos, the braids.
There was nothing like Allen Iverson on court.
Allen Iverson was like the clash
from the sports athlete and culture,
and the hip hop-culture, the music culture.
And this look right here, it's a perfect example.
From the sweats to the Timberlands to the durag,
this is straight out of like a Rocawear shoot.
That whole era, you know, baggy sweats, Timberlands, durag.
Allen Iverson was just kind of right in tune
with what was going on.
I think this was a perfect example why
the NBA dress code was implemented
'cause you went from like Michael Jordan,
you know, clean, suited-up,
to like the polar opposite, just overnight really.
'Cause, you know, Allen Iverson played
to the tier end of Jordan's career.
So overnight you went from clean suit,
sharp, gold little loop earring
to like durag, long chain, baggy sweats,
big T-shirt, Timberlands.
I don't think the NBA knew how to market that.
They knew how to market Jordan.
They weren't sure how to market Iverson.
And as Iverson was quickly becoming the face of the league,
they weren't sure what to do with that.
He kind of showed everyone that the culture can be marketed
and I think that's the perfect example of that.
This feels like 2023.
I could see Kuzma wearing this.
As you can see, style has gone
from that very form-fitting European look.
And now everything's gone very baggy and casual
and this look feels like, even though it's '05,
it feels like now too.
Players always carrying,
when they're walking through the tunnel,
the little pouch, whether it's Goyard, LV.
And then he has his baggy jeans.
And it looks like those are Creative Recs.
I don't know if anybody remembers those sneakers
but those had a nice little run.
I guess probably one of my favorite Iverson looks.
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I think what was really cool about Deion was that
he's a two sport athlete,
being able to play baseball and be able to play football.
Those are two different worlds.
Like baseball, super traditional
how it's played, you know,
the energy that you can carry when you're playing,
the style of it,
and football is like the total opposite.
The fact that he was able to juggle both sides
speaks of volumes to his ability
to tap into one side of the of the world
and tap into the other side of the world.
And I think Deion, as you can see,
he's made a name for himself in coaching now.
You can show how he can kind of tap
into all sorts of people.
The iconic bandana.
I think Deion did a great job of connecting that to him.
Remember when he did his Hall of Fame speech?
He was upset at his bust
'cause his bust didn't have his bandana attached to it
so he wrapped a bandana around his bust.
The bandana and Deion are like one.
The bandana just was something
that I think we all emulated and tried to do.
And I remember we played football out on the playground,
I think it'd be seven, eight kids
with different colored bandanas running around
thinking they're Deion.
That's an example of branding.
That's an example of finding an accessory
to separate yourself from everyone else.
And I think everything Deion did was very, very intentional.
He wanted to always look different
and he was always thinking about
how he could market himself.
That's the genius of Deion.
This is the epitome of look good, feel good, play good.
Flashy with it, but chill and sharp.
Obviously the suits are a little bit bigger
'cause that was the style of the time,
but this is Deion.
You know, the glasses are dope,
the hat is dope, like, this is a vibe.
This is like a like a Gucci campaign
from last year or something.
It feels like that type of energy.
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Clean cut, sharp, a pretty boy.
You think of Derek Jeter, you know,
he was the face of the Yankees
for years and years and years.
Epitomizes what a Yankee looked like.
They had so many restrictions.
They had to keep their hair on the head short,
they couldn't have facial hair.
So I think it limited a lot of his style exploration.
For baseball players, you know, you see a lot of them,
they would focus more on that one chain
that they can wear.
And so you would see a lot of his photos,
he would intentionally unbutton his top a little bit
so you can see his chain
and a lot of those things are ways
to kind of show what I'm rocking with.
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Jordan was a huge, huge brand.
And so, for Jordan to anoint him
to being the first Jordan athlete was huge.
When Jordan kind of gave him that mark,
you had to respect it.
So I think what Jordan loved about Derek Jeter was
that Derek Jeter reminded him a lot of himself.
And you can see in the suits,
these are suits that I can see Jordan really, really like,
"Oh you killed that one."
Like this blue with the black.
Very, very clean, very, very sharp.
The color blocking is cool.
When he signed that Jordan brand contract you know
Jordan's like, "Here this is my suit guy, imma hook you up."
And Jeter's like looking like, hey,
if Jordan tells you that this is his suit guy,
I'm going with it.
So, suit's definitely boxy, oversized,
but if anyone's paying attention,
it's slowly creeping back in to this same
sort of like silhouette.
The details might not be the same
but the silhouette is coming back.
The baggier oversized bottoms
and boxy tops are definitely coming in.
Fashion is one big circle, you know, comes and goes.
The leisure suit, that's what I call this
and it's only leisure because instead of the shirt and tie,
it's a t-shirt.
As you can see now, if you go to any event
that people are required to dress up, you will see this.
This is a look that's I think here to stay
and it's not going anywhere.
And what I love about this is that,
there was a time when we went from all we wore
on the side of our hips when you see anyone was a pager
and it evolved into sidekicks on our phones
but this is like a flashback into the past.
Actually what we replaced the pager with now
is probably these fanny packs that we all wear.
So the fanny pack is the new pager, for sure.
Derek Jeter playing in New York,
having to be clean-cut and sharp,
he was tough to compete with.
And I'm not talking about like on the field, on the diamond,
I'm talking about for the guys on the bachelor scene.
Derek Jeter was a problem.
If you know, you know. [chuckles]
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So possible future inductees,
imma start with David Beckham.
I think David Beckham for me is one of my style icons.
Anybody who knows me, I champion David Beckham.
I think David Beckham just brought this edge
to being a pretty boy.
That was very, very new for me.
Like you see Derek Jeter, which is clean, sharp, pretty boy,
but David Beckham brought this attitude and this edge
and his tattoos kind of was a reflection of that,
his different hairstyles, he rode like bikes
and just not the norm at the time.
And now you see his look and what he had kind of introduced
and kind of made popular is the norm.
So David Beckham, for sure.
Dennis Rodman on the basketball side.
Anybody who could, you know, wear dresses
at that time was way ahead of your time.
I remember Kid Cudi recently got a lot of noise
for paying homage to Kurt Cobain
and performing wearing a dress.
And if you can imagine the heat Kid Cudi got for that,
imagine what Dennis Rodman was getting back then
and he didn't care.
And so with that and the hair color, the dying of the hair.
You see everyone dying their hair now.
No one even thinks twice about it.
I was in fashion week in Paris
and Usher had his hair like bright, bright orange.
In my mind, I'm thinking Rodman was getting flack for this.
I know the NBA was trying to figure out...
He probably got emails after emails
and his his agents got hit up saying,
"Hey can we get him to, like, tone that down a bit?"
Yeah, Rodman, for sure.
Guys playing today that I think are on their way,
definitely Russell Westbrook.
Anytime I'm anywhere where anybody
who's dressing a little bit out the box
automatically is called Russell Westbrook.
Russell Westbrook, for sure.
I see Kuzma definitely making some noise.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he's definitely making some noise.
Kevin Love, Kevin Love is a sleeper.
He's been putting in a lot of work
and he represents the opposite end of the spectrum
but I love Kevin Love's looks.
I think it feels good, it feels like history.
It just makes you feel good.
So Kevin Love, definitely.
I think people will be like, "Kevin Love?"
but if you go back and look at Kevin Love's looks
and the consistency of it,
he tells a great story with his style.
I'm Allen Onyia, thank you guys for watching
and I'll see you next time.
Salud.
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