CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
The National Basketball Association is being urged by both fans and non-fans to please re-implement the same dress code standards that once saw Michael Jordan wearing a skivvy with a blazer and beret in post-match press conferences.
This follows the new Netflix isolation blockbuster “The Last Dance” – a new ESPN production that has introduced an entire generation to the 1990s Chicago Bulls fashion sense.
The 10-part documentary chronicles Michael Jordan and the Bulls two seperate championship three-peats, with never-before-seen dressing room footage that highlights the glorious outfits of that era.
The since discarded NBA dress codes once stipulated that all players must dress in business or conservative attire while arriving and departing during a scheduled game, on the bench while injured, and when conducting official NBA business (press interviews, charity events, etc.). The dress code banned fashions most often associated with hip-hop culture, specifically: jeans, hats, do-rags, T-shirts, large jewellery, sneakers and Timberland boots.
Understandably, the dress codes were eventually thrown out for being a little bit too elitist and military for a game based around throwing a rubber ball inside a hoop, with players now opting to wear their warm up kit and game jerseys for pre and post match functions.
While both basketball fans and distant observers have always been aware of the eccentric fashion sense of Bulls legend Dennis Rodman, this new documentary has given Netflix viewers an even better look at Jordan and Pippen’s 1990s drip, as well as those white boys who used to dress like Bruce Springsteen.
The NBA has released a statement today in response to the growing social media campaign calling for the game to re-implement the dress codes under the hashtag #DressLikeMike
“The NBA understands the nostalgia associated with seeing Michael Jordan in jet black country club attire.” read the statement.
“Unfortunately, we have no plans to re-introduce player dress codes at this time. Seriously, do you think those baggy cream suits would hold up in 2020. Nowadays the stars wear whatever their Kardashian girlfriends tell them to, which is usually something designed by Kanye West, which is usually quite aesthetically unpleasing”
MORE TO COME.
