“He Was the First One”: Jarred Vanderbilt Credits ‘Pioneer’ Russell Westbrook for Bridging Gap Between Basketball and High Fashion

Russell Westbrook, the ‘King of NBA style’, remains a huge inspiration for fellow players when it comes to his fashion sense. For the Denver Nuggets star, fashion is “second nature, like hand and feet”. While Jarred Vanderbilt of the Lakers believes Russ is a trendsetter, the man himself looks at fashion from more than one lens.

“I definitely wasn’t the first athlete to go to a show, but I do believe it (fashion) is more popular now. I do it for a different reason though, I’m looking at it like business.

“I’m interested in the different designers that are showing, trying to find ways to improve my knowledge in fashion, meet different people and different influencers,” Westbrook said in an interview with Time Magazine in 2017.

Today, Westbrook owns 300 stores worldwide of Honor The Gift, a fashion label which focuses on inclusivity by making streetwear fashion affordable to the local community of the particular city or town.

Prior to that, he was named as Sports Illustrated‘s ‘Most Fashionable Athlete’ of 2017. His passion for fashion also made him come out with a first-of-it-kind coffee table book titled – Russell Westbrook: Style Drivers in which he immortalised his most memorable looks on and off the court.

So it’s no surprise that Vanderbilt credited Westbrook as the first modern-day player who bridged the gap between athletes and high fashion, taking it one step further from the likes of Allen Iverson and Dennis Rodman.

The Lakers’ defensive ace appeared on former teammate D’Angelo Russell’s Backyard Podcast to do a bit of shopping in downtown LA. He said –

“They [AI and Rodman] kinda changed the view of fashion, especially in sports. They kinda bridged the gap.

“And even guys like Russ, I feel like he was the first one to kinda bridge the gap between fashion and especially high fashion and like sports. He was one of the first like NBA-wise to incorporate that stuff.”

And like Westbrook, Vanderbilt too believes that an increase in interest in fashion shows amongst NBA fans is one of the reasons why something like tunnel fits has now become commonplace.

How does Vanderbilt pick his game day fits?

Vanderbilt is one of the sharpest-dressed players in the NBA, and his wide assortment of looks have consistently impressed even the harshest of critics. Instagram page @leaguefits displays Vando’s style to their 1 million followers as often as they can.

Contrary to popular belief, Vando claimed most of the outfits he wears on game day are decided 12 hours before the game.

“For me like, most of my game fits, they come on game day.”

Talking to one of the reps at the store where he was shopping, Vanderbilt explained his process of picking out his outfit for the tunnel –

“I kinda just go with what I’m feeling. Depending on the weather, it’s cold, hot, I kinda factor that in, but it’s been on what I’m feeling. If it’s a TV game, and I really gotta put some on, then imma turn it up a little bit.”

Having played for 3 teams before he reached LA, Vanderbilt spoke about how the number of televised games has gone up, causing him to rethink his style. He added –

“TV games, when we was in Minnesota we probably had like 5? Here we got damn near half, like 40 games on TV. You know it’s a different way you gotta present when you’re on TV. And it’s LA—you can dress a little different here.”

A player’s fashion sense is his first impression on the viewers, and it’s pretty easy to see why Vanderbilt puts so much importance on how he dresses.