Staff Pick
Brilliant wordsmith/storysmith Mitchell S. Jackson is coming to us with what on the surface looks like a beautifully-made sports fashion book — and it’s that, and more. It’s a fascinating history, a well-organized timeline, and most of all, an expansive celebration of a unique and empowering culture. This book is cool. Recommended By Gigi L., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Equal parts stunning, photo-rich lookbook, and cultural commentary, Fly is the story of the extraordinary intersection of high fashion and basketball. Each chapter explores the style of an era and the cultural influences that shaped it: The league's inception in 1949, pre-Civil Rights Movement, when the NBA was mostly comprised of white players who wore suits and skinny ties. The years following the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the birth of funk and R&B when basketball fashion got flashier (think Walt "Clyde" Frazier and Wilt Chamberlain wearing fur coats and big hats). The Michael Jordan era of the 1980s and 1990s, with its oversize suits. The epic Iverson/Hip-Hop years of the late 1990s and early 2000s. And now to today, a time defined not only by social media and high fashion's birthing of the tunnel walk (think LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Russell Westbrook), but one in which athletes are idealized as style icons and activists, figures who inspire conversations beyond how they play and what they wear.
Review
“Throughout “Fly,” Jackson’s bird’s-eye-view on the intersection of high fashion and elite athletes is comprehensive, and packed with commentary and historical context alike.”—CNN Style
Review
“Mitchell S. Jackson expertly fuses fashion and basketball, showing why players’ off court style can be as impactful as what they do in the game.” —NINA GARCIA, editor in chief, Elle
Review
"A coffee-table book that elevates the subject to the same decorative status as a Dior or Gucci monograph."—The New York Times
About the Author
Mitchell S. Jackson is the winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing and the 2021 National Magazine Award in Feature Writing. Jackson's debut novel, The Residue Years, won a Whiting Award and the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. His essay collection Survival Math was named a best book of 2019 by fifteen publications. Jackson's other honors include fellowships, grants, and awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Creative Capital, the Cullman Center of the New York Public Library, the Lannan Foundation, PEN America, and TED. His writing has been featured on the cover of the New York Times Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, Time, and Esquire, as well as in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, the Paris Review, the Guardian, and elsewhere. Jackson is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Esquire. He holds the John O. Whiteman Dean's Distinguished Professorship in the Department of English at Arizona State University.