I was central Charles Oakley's awkward applicant closet, a abode I never absurd I would see. For allotment of my visit, Oakley let me comb alone, as he ate a backward cafeteria bank in his boondocks abode in White Plains. Why would I, a man with two acceptable apparel and three appropriate blazers, be demography appearance addendum about the clothes of the New York Knicks' barbaric ability forward, a tenacious, dirty-work warrior accepted for strong-arming opponents out of his way, slugging a few rivals now and then, coil his anatomy for 10 rebounds a bold and risking his anatomy to clutter afterwards aberrant basketballs?
Despite the blue-collar assignment belief and his arena appearance of near-constant anatomy contact, the off-the-court Oakley is not a man of diaphoresis apparel and sneakers. He is a abundantly dressed peacock of a Knick, a standout in the National Basketball Association, which boasts conceivably the best-dressed athletes in sports, including such accomplished and present stars as Julius Erving, Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, Mark Jackson and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Why do basketball players dress so well? Conceivably it is because they are amid the best naked of all pro athletes, in shorts and T-shirts, and charge atone with the best over-the-top ensembles.
Oakley's arena appearance may abridgement grace; yet, this barbate granite block of a man, 6 anxiety 9 inches and 245 pounds, has created the best abandoned appearance angel in New York contest back the 1960's and 70's administration of the Knicks' Walt (Clyde) Frazier. The anticipation of wearing, say, sweats and sneakers on his circadian circuit about makes him shudder. He wears sneakers alone back arena on the hardwood, or back active to and from convenance at the State University at Purchase. He is a man who packs four dress apparel and two accidental apparel in no-wrinkle baggage for five-day alley trips (and again he shops, at malls, or any of the food that baby to his sizes and tastes).
"On court, I do what it takes," he said. "Then you shower, relax, you appetite to attending nice. Afterwards a game, it's supper time. I appetite to attending my best."
So there I stood, face-to-threads with a bubble affiliation of rust, cranberry, green, fuchsia, gold, orange and alacrity jackets and suits, abounding of which became accustomed to Knicks admirers during the eight weeks he rode the bank in artery clothes while convalescent from toe surgery. There was the black-and-white arrested anorak he wore with the sky dejected pants, abutting to a few white-and-black tuxedos and several black-and-gray suits. Shirts managed to clasp their way in. A kaleidoscope of ties (which abide askance in actual tiny Windsors until they are alien off for cleaning) and suspenders hung, some about twisted, on two wire hangers.
Sweaters, shorts, socks and diaphoresis apparel were bankrupt or tossed on shelves (the closet treatment, the shelves and bars, was like mine: bargain white wire). Scores of shoes (suede, leather, bendable leather, alligator, leather-and-gator, but no sneakers) blowzy the attic in two-by-two formations or in assorted boxes. One box agitated a bill from an Atlanta shoe abundance for bristles pairs of shoes at $1,125.
A abate closet in the bedfellow bedchamber houses Oakley's summer wardrobe. It was packed, too, with assorted linens and added failing threads. Giving a claimed bout of the summer closet, Oakley pulled out a Navajo book anorak fabricated of linen.
"I wore that one to a party," he said.
He elaborated: "I've been accepting abroad from prints. I'm affairs solids."
Oakley is in the action of affective about the corner, area his solids, prints and plaids will accept added abundant active abode with two closets in his adept bedroom.
Oakley is appreciative of how he dresses. There is no formula, no aesthetics that he adheres to. His style, a acceptable dosage of the imaginatively abandoned and the occasionally conservative, is too assorted to be uniform.
"Once, a babe who's a appearance coordinator said to me, 'Don't you know, Oak, you charge to apprentice how to dress.' " He chuckled, again added: "I'm not out to amuse people. I accept acceptable taste, and I apperceive how to organize."
He has his rules. He prefers a billowing attending and adequate shoes. No hip-hop style. He dislikes double-breasted jackets. Hats are good: "A guy who's aciculate wears a hat. A hat can accomplish you feel good." And he understands tie power: "You can accomplish a $300 accouterment attending like $2,000 with the appropriate tie."
Rayon is acceptable for the summer, cottony makes the Oak Man diaphoresis too much.
There's the Rule of the Fit: "If a $5,000 accouterment doesn't fit well, it looks like $50."
When he wears a tie, he wears a white shirt. He never wears brown.
When enunciated, the aftermost two rules acquired me to boring at my ensemble. Dejected blazer. O.K. Amber shirt with flecks of dejected and a blue-and-red blooming tie. (The appearance cops had accustomed clashing patterns, hadn't they?) Amber shoes. Had I abashed myself? Was Oakley amusement inside?
When teammates or added players about the National Basketball Association alpha cutting what he wears, he stops cutting it. He doesn't abrasion any of his clothes too often, sometimes not at all, aircraft his discards off to a 6-foot-7 accessory in Cleveland.
"I'd say he has a advanced variety," said Marv Albert, the television articulation of the Knicks. "Some of it's actual nice, and some of it's a advanced variety."
Oakley artlessly loves clothes. He loves loud colors, loves to angle out and loves the feel of acceptable accouterment adjoin his skin.
