5 Basketball Fashion Trends That (Thankfully) Disappeared
Just like any brand, the NBA has gone through its ups and downs. Yet just a few years ago, as everyone was still in their post-Chicago MJ mourning, the League (and its fans) must have set a mark for consecutively bad fashion statements.
This was like Kanye in the “Stronger” video or any person who has ever worn Crocs: It was pathetic. Yet, I can’t even poke fun too much at some of the moves because I’m guilty as well for donning some hideous stuff.
Thankfully, we’ve moved on from most of the things that plagued the turn of the century. For the most part — Kobe, I’m looking at you. Here are five basketball fashion trends that we’re glad are gone.
“W.W.J.D.” BANDS
Arguing over money. Selfishly demanding more shots. On trial for murder, vehicular manslaughter and gun possession. I don’t think Jesus would’ve done any of that. NBA guys have. I remember buying a few of these wristbands back in the day as well. They always felt awkward and every time I went up to shoot, found myself peering at the black or blue band instead of at the rim. Not sure if Allen Iverson was the first to rock these, but I remember he made it cool to ponder the question. This was one of just a few terrible fashion statements that A.I. has popularized (don’t get me started on the arm sleeve). But I’ll give The Answer the benefit of the doubt, considering he’d dominate a list of the best fashion trends of the past decade.
GIMMICK SNEAKERS
The only redeeming quality of the ugly line of Dada Supreme sneakers that came out at the start of the century was that you could buy custom pairs for like $60 in Eastbay. Thank God I never fell for the trap. These were easily some of the most ugly kicks I’ve ever seen, probably the worst line ever. Chris Webber, what were you thinking? He can’t take complete blame for the trend of terrible feet. Shaq had some terrible innovations like the phone sneaker, or the Sprewells that had actual spinners on them — people who bought those had to be starving for attention. Everyone wanted to push the envelope: even Tim Duncan had some Adidas joints that proclaimed to have a microchip in them, but we had reached the point where no one could go any further. Thankfully, we have moved back towards decency and some subtlety.
BAND-AIDS
Perhaps Dwyane Wade was really the only person trying to get this fad going. Nelly tried during his heyday, and when Wade was injured for an All-Star weekend a couple years ago, he went with the bold new look for a few games before the NBA snuffed it out. Let’s just say it was a disaster and one of the worst moves Flash has gone through with during his entire career. This was like ’09 version of Kobe’s photo shoot this year with the L.A. Times. How are you going to rock a smooth suit and a business casual look with a band-aid stuck on your cheek with your name on it? I would be willing to say this was one of the worst fashion moves of any celebrity ever. It’s right up there with Kriss Kross and Timbs in the summer (a look I used to stupidly rock back in the day).
TIGHTS
This is a tough one. On the one hand, supposedly these helped players keep their legs warm throughout those cold winter nights or increase circulation or something. But on the other hand, they were an eyesore. The worst were the ones that weren’t black; when guys started donning different colors, that’s when David Stern said “enough is enough” and put an end to the ballerina mimicking. Shit, I even tried. I bought a couple of long leg wraps — think T-Mac in Orlando — and while they weren’t exactly tights, they served the same purpose. I think I wore them for one practice in high school. After that, it was tough to continue to wear them when they made me sweat bullets and look stupid, not to mention I think the whole helping-your-legs-thing was an illusion. I always felt better once I took them off.
6XL TEES
Allow me the attempt to distance myself from my own foray into the world of Tall Tees. For years, I went with this look: the bigger, the better. I remember I visited my boy’s house in Troy, N.Y., once and was ecstatic to find a store that carried 6XL tees in all different colors. Call me immature. I don’t know. I feel looking back on it, that it wasn’t a good look. A part of me is actually happy David Stern went through with the dress code. Everyone is looking fresh these days, rocking suits and ill sweaters. Not too long ago, NBA guys were wearing nothing but huge white tees, filling up their closets with them. You know it’s bad when you hang clothes up and still have to fold them at the bottom because they are hitting the sneaker boxes below. That was me. I can’t even fathom how ridiculously long and wide Eddy Curry’s shirts must’ve been. Let’s all be thankful this look has aged. White tees are great, but ones made for giraffes aren’t.
-Follow Sean on Twitter at @SEANesweeney.
-Follow Dime on Twitter at @DIMEMag.
-Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
-->
August 10th, 2010 at 10:06 am
The Other Aj says:
LOL
I remember those ultra long tees…hilarious when short guys used to wear them and the shirt would be down to their shoes…
August 10th, 2010 at 10:15 am
KnicksFan84 says:
It really got crazy when they came in different colors and stupid Camron with the pink! smh. Only in NYC
August 10th, 2010 at 10:17 am
momma muncher says:
Allen iverson had style, timmy didn’t
August 10th, 2010 at 10:23 am
Darius says:
the tights & w.w.j.d bands were good. David Stern bans alot of dumb stuff. & A.I’s arm sleeve isnt a fashion statement, its 4 tendonitis. After MJ, Iverson is the only cultural icon the league has had
August 10th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Yummy32 says:
How about the Tim Thomas double headband?
August 10th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Dre says:
I disagree with a couple Sean. The leg tights things did actually help me. I wore it with combination with my knee brace and I felt like I had much more support with me knee. I think the black were ok but the other colors were ridiculous. Actually Stern didn’t completely get rid of them, since orthopedics do say it serves a purpose players must have a documented condition and a doctor’s note to wear them. There were a few still floating around the league last year. The band aide by Wade wasn’t that bad and it’s ok if you have a legit cut but if you are not injured and you wear it you will look like an idiot.
August 10th, 2010 at 10:51 am
sh!tfaced says:
Scalabrine’s “concussion” headband.
Those girlie headbands Mike Miller, Vujacic and Dunleavy Jr used to wear when they had long hair.
Kareem goggles. The Kurt Rambis Clark Kent glasses. Antoine Carr’s shades/glasses/goggles.
As long as short shorts don’t make a comeback, it’s all good…
August 10th, 2010 at 11:08 am
POPPI GEE says:
Guess the it’s the person too. I guess I was raised stoneage or really old cause many trends I just don’t get down with. Not to say I haven’t tried some dumb fads before but it’s just some stuff I don’t do.
Earrings,
Wristbands (although this magnetic balance stuff has me curious)
headbands,
words are designs in your hair,
tights,
long socks,
and at this point (personal opinion) a lot of people are even over doing tatoos (I mean seriously ish on TOP of your head and lip prints ..wow).
To each their own though.
August 10th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Promoman says:
The tights actually served a purpose since they helped keep players’ muscles warm. I remember the Adidas 1. Those shoes were $200 or $250 and moldered on the shelves.
August 10th, 2010 at 11:21 am
MBE18 says:
Troy! Interesting area for being upstate
August 10th, 2010 at 11:24 am
control says:
That bandaid thing from Wade was completely retarded. I am very very glad that shit didn’t catch, even with those retarded impressionable pickup ballers that infest courts everywhere. It is seriously one of the stupidest things I’ve seen, even compared to any of the bullshit that emo/scene/goth/hip hop/trailer trash/redneck/any retarded style can produce. If Wade was wearing those bandaids to business meetings, I can see why he is having his face sued off…I would spend entire business meetings laughing straight in the face of any idiot who walked in with a bandaid on their face with their name on it.
AI started a lot of trends, and pretty much all of them suck. The biggest thing AI contributed, which isn’t really fashion, but is more of a mindset, is the mentality that tiny little midgets should play basketball like lil’ douchebags. AI made it popular to ignore the 6’8 guy posting up against the 5’11 guy down low, and jack a contested long 3 instead. AI made it cool to dribble around like an AND1 player until you lose the ball out of bounds because you suck and have no handles. AI made it fashionable for little people to wear big people clothes, and look like complete douchebags while doing it.
Anything Ron Artest does to his hair is a horrible fashion statement. Steve Nash’s “crazy rapist” hair style is also really wack (and I see people duplicating it on the court now). It’s not quite a fashion piece, but the Perk “I’m going to eat my face” scowl that younger people are starting to imitate is really getting annoying. If you are 5’8 and 120lbs, you shouldn’t be scowling at anything…
August 10th, 2010 at 11:32 am
karizmatic says:
If the tights helped the legs I can understand…leg wraps help me…but I’m old…I’ve always gone with the high socks look when playing…it’s just my thing. I even make my player on NBA 2k wear the high socks with knee pads…essentially it looks like he’s wearing black tights..but I’d never actually put on black tights in real life…but I do rock the high socks and they help keep my legs warm when playing too. My brother is a therapist and he says that it actually is documented to work. I’ve rocked a head band from time to time and I will occasionally rock a wrist band but it’s more like a sweat band since I actually use it to wipe off sweat during games.
But yeah the long tees were ridiculous, I never wore 6XL I pretty much thought it was getting carried away at 3XL and then when guys started walking around looking like they were wearing dresses over their jeans I said it was enough and went back to wearing clothes that generally fit me…I guess I got old. I agree with Gee too the tattoo thing is starting to go way over the top.
August 10th, 2010 at 11:59 am
bobby stew says:
You can’t really stop guys from waering tights can you? aLL YOU HAVE TO DO IS WEAR knee braces and long socks to cover up the tights.
August 10th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Jeremiah Togstad says:
Good call on the gimmic sneakers. Remember these Nike Airs?: http://lowposts.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/shoes-nike-up-tempo.jpg
Hideous.
August 10th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Sporty-j says:
I liked the black leg tights that Wade use to rock because it matched the uniforms, but i guess Owners and etc started complaining and thought it must of made him faster or helped him in some sort of way when all it did was keep him warm when it was cold. Wade started it, than Lebron and Carmelo followed. Wade says hes not playing for the Olympic team in 2010 because he had personal issues he had to deal with and than Lebron follows and says a week later he not playing either and Carmelo had the excuse of his Wedding. Whatever Wade does the rest of them follow so i guess hes the ring leader since hes the only 1 with the ring…
August 10th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Whatdahec says:
How about curly-q sideburns. Shaq and a few others used to rock these back in the early 90′s. Yuck!!
August 10th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Pareja says:
Too long shorts on photoshooting sessions. disgusting. And1 guys popularizired that ugly stuff. 5 inches below the knee… horrible.
August 10th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Ian says:
control
agree with your iverson comment
everything the man wore sucked
August 10th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
asmaticasiatic02 says:
I remember back in the day when they were kind of hard to find, a few busters cut up socks to look like A.I with the arm sleeve, horrible..lol…Other bad hoops fashion I would include are excessive tattoos ( the and 1 muscle dude comes to mind, half the ballers that had that were garbage), sleeves off t-shirts used as headbands (more of a streetball/ outdoor thing), two head bands at one time, one sock high, one low (kerry kittles), and shirts cut into basically pom poms on the arms (horrible 3 on 3 tournament look….
August 10th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
asmaticasiatic02 says:
another bad look is the sag with your shorts completely off your butt…a little sag is cool but this is overboard, guess its just an excuse not to bend your knees and play D….
August 10th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
tazb. says:
You forgot the thugged out braids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMkibML2zrY
August 10th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
tazb. says:
You forgot the thugged out braids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMkibML2zrY