Stern Warning

Societal Implications of the NBA Dress Code

By Guichard Cadet


As one who is oft-times appalled by what I see younger people wearing, I always check myself by remembering what I used to wear by going to my photo albums. There I see my friends and I wearing the fad and fashion of our times - mock necks, British walkers, sheepskin coats, ski hats and goggles. Unfortunately with the rise of hip hop and video culture, fashion and other cultural norms now transcend traditional age groupings; and many adults dress the same as the youth.

This past week NBA Commissioner David Stern put on his “throwback” thinking cap and legislated a dress code for the league. Opinions ranged the gamut, with personal preference dictating which side of the issue one took.

Reporter Kevin Blackistone of the Dallas Morning News referred to the mandate, as “culture imperialism”; whereas longtime hip-hopper and NBA fan, George of Atlanta couldn’t “…believe Marcus Camby made that statement about a clothing stipend. Is he crazy? I think not. It is just further evidence that these cats are far removed from real life. Probably 95% of these guys never had a job because since they were 12…their lives had been consumed with basketball…They need to stop worrying about that and start worrying about being able to hit a 20 foot jump shot with consistency.”

Many see the dress code as camouflage to address larger “behavioral” issues, such as the brawl on November 11, 2004, wherein NBA players charged the stands and fought with fans. Instead of understanding and accepting people for who they are and not by their looks, Stern seems to have agreed on the "criminalization" of fashion - as simplified by Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, "The players have been dressing in prison garb the last five or six years. All the stuff that goes on, it's like gangster, thuggery stuff…”

I am not against the dress code from a personal style perspective. But, I am looking at this from a macro-lens, and how much of American culture is about individualism and self-expression. That is what is being lost in the NBA.

Stern’s aim is to maintain the corporate (marketing) status quo that has led the boon of NBA popularity and profitability. But, as Ric from California noted, “These players promote throwbacks, caps and jerseys which furthers the fiscal interests of the NBA, assorted/related businesses and of other sports…He took a halfway decent idea and made a mockery of it by denouncing too many things that individuals like and should control as in where and when I take my headphones and shades.”

The league is approaching its players as employees, where in essence, they are not “traditional employees”. Some, who are in support of the dress code, compare the players to other workers who wear uniforms to perform their jobs. Even so, what if as a McDonald’s worker, court officer, correction officer or UPS employee, those companies dictated what you could wear to and from work?

A better comparison for the players are actors and other entertainers who must get “into character” to perform. Imagine Travolta, Madonna, George Clinton, Wyclef, and The Rock being told by their studios and labels (when not performing) they could not express their individual style? Within all of this, what of the teachers, police officers and everyday citizens who encounter the youth who dress “the part” along with chains, etc…By seeing their favorite players’ work ethic and other positives as not being a contradiction to their gold chains and “rude boy” attitudes, those people could come to a greater tolerance and understanding of hip hop culture, the youth and other adults.

NBA players now have an opportunity to show their counter-cultural style is not just “wannabe” posturing but a true attempt to not accept a “corporate” culture that has no relevance to who they are. Their protest could be simply not adhering to the dress code and challenging the fines and/or suspensions on First Amendment grounds; or truly go throwback by wearing dashikis and black medallions.