By Robyn Mowatt ·Updated October 19, 2024
Mitchell S. Jackson has lived through multiple >Bottega Veneta. Jackson, who currently lives in Arizona explains that he uses fashion as a way to key in on what he feels is invigorating >Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. I found my way to his writing through the stellar New York Times Magazine feature “Lonnie And Me.” The depth and intimacy that his writings bring forth is a breath of fresh air. And in comparison to his clothing choices, it aligns perfectly. All details are of the utmost importance, no stone is left unturned. His writing isn’t just impressive; it’s also deeply moving and almost as if you’re on a journey with him experiencing each word.
From his home in Arizona, he expresses that he believes his aesthetic principle is made up of how he’s unafraid to wear contrasting textures together. Slim-fitting trousers, laidback tees, and eccentric outerwear selections are what his wardrobe is partially >tunnel looks have skyrocketed into the fashion lexicon over the course of the past ten years or so, I ask Jackson what he thinks about them. He tells me that he is currently into the looks that the league’s stylish players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Stefon Diggs, Odell Beckham Jr. wear ahead of games. He also isn’t remiss to note that Black women are stylists for many of these players.
“I think we’re getting really close to the apex of NBA fashion,” he says. Jackson notes that he feels the peak is swiftly approaching, and he can tell due to how the NBA is currently monetizing tunnel moments by investing in what the tunnel looks like. “For me, the fact that the NBA is putting that kind of emphasis on NBA fashion means that we’re well into this being co-opted by mass media and capitalism,” he notes.
“I think that if the NBA players want to continue to be stylish, or if they want to be stylish they’re going to have to predict where we’re going [with fashion],” Jackson adds.
Christa Harris
We recently caught up with Mitchell Jackson to discuss his lifelong fascination with fashion, his thoughts on NBA tunnel outfits, and his latest offering Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion.
ESSENCE: For those who aren’t familiar, what’s the best way for them to catch up with the writing you’ve been working on for years?
Mitchell S. Jackson: It depends on how much they want to read. My debut novel is really about my beginning, it’s autobiographical. I have an essay collection that gets into who I am, where I come from. I’m from Portland, Oregon. The novel is called, The Residue Years, and the essay collection is called, Survival Math. If you’re a book person, it would be them. Then if you’re not, I write a column for Esquire, so there’s a lot of short stuff there.
How would you describe your relationship with fashion?
I’ve been a lifelong admirer of fashion. I mean, going back as far as I can remember, I just was looking for Easter pictures and checking out my old Easter suits from when I was seven. Then I had a cowboy phase, which is very on-trend right now. I was wearing cowboy hats and big belt buckles and boots. But I would say I spent a lot of time in my adulthood trying to figure out [and] refine mysrc=”https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-1789957019-scaled.jpeg” alt=”Mitchell S. Jackson’s Latest Book Is All About NBA Fashion” width=”400″ height=”500″ />Getty Images
Over the years fashion do you feel fashion has allowed you space to walk into numerous eras of your life as a Black man?
I went through lots of eras before settling on a palette, which is gray and black mostly. Then pop colors, a few of them, red, yellow, and some limes. Even the hair decoding=”async” src=”https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-966938112.jpeg” alt=”Mitchell S. Jackson’s Latest Book Is All About NBA Fashion” width=”400″ height=”600″ />Getty Images
What are your thoughts on the Instagram pages that document tunnel looks?
I mean, I think the Instagram accounts might’ve influenced me to get them damn Rick Owens zipper pants that I spent too much money on and probably won’t wear again. So, I think they do serve their purpose. I really like the curatorial effect of those websites or those handles. I [also] like the commentary on a lot of them. NBA Fashion Fits and League Fits are my favorites. But also I go to Blitzfits, even though I’m not a big NFL fan.
Did Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion allow you to take a scholarly approach to dissecting our athletes and their fixation on fashion over the years?
Yeah, definitely. To me, the most fun era was the beginning of it. So, coming out of World War II, I really didn’t understand how many restrictions that they had in that era. You could only have one suit and you could only have a certain amount of wool, and you could only have one pair of shoes, and there was a limitation on rubber. If you think about all those restrictions, that really dictated what people wore and how they wore it. It ain’t no seven, eight, nine Armani suits. No, you’ve got one good suit, dude, you’ve got to make this work. I think learning about that era. And also because I didn’t know much about that era of NBA. I knew about my era, from when I was born, I was born in ’75. When we get to the eighties, I have memories of that era, but I have no memories of the seventies.
I have no memories of the ‘60s and NBA fashion, except for brief clips. So, to go back and look at those clips, to look at those pictures of guys like Wilt Chamberlain, you mentioned, he was fly. He was the first fly big man, and very different from the guys he was playing with or against. Bill Russell was not fly. Bill Russell was like a regular, “I wear suits,” very conservative. So, it was really interesting to see that era of NBA fashion and then to connect it to, why would the players be looking like this in this moment in history? That was a real question. In every chapter, I think there’s six chapters. My question was, why are they doing this in this time period?
What is the most significant notion or lesson you walked away with after writing Fly?
I think, and maybe the most crucial one I learned was that fashion is never just in the choices that an individual makes. Yes, you get up and you look in your closet and you say, “I’m going to wear this and that,” but there were so many decisions that were outside of your control that went into what’s in your closet. Import, export, who can you import from? What are your economics? What are the price points of these brands? All of those things, culturally, economically, socially, are decisions that other people are making that give you choices to make. So, I think that was really important because that helped me think about how to arrange the book. These guys were not just wearing what they wanted to wear, they were wearing what was available to them at any given moment, and what they thought was socially acceptable. Which again, that’s being created by someone else.
So, I thought that’s really important. I do think that, at least in America, we don’t have fashion without Black folks. We are the center, the folk room of fashion. What’s cool is what’s fashionable, and what’s cool in this country is dictated by Black people. So, I think, and that’s in any league, which is probably why baseball ain’t that fly because you’ve got the fewest amount of Black folks in it.
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