Advertisement

Amare Stoudemire, Rachel Roy discuss upcoming collaboration

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

When Amare Stoudemire and Rachel Roy hit a Hollywood Hills basketball court for a little one-on-one last week, the New York Knick was dripping with sweat, talking trash and baring his teeth in intimidation.

The fashion designer, on the other hand, was the model of calm, cool collectedness, clad in sweat pants, a T-shirt and flip flops, breaking her poise only at the last minute to throw a well-placed elbow that sent Stoudemire player reeling off balance.

Advertisement

It was all for the benefit of a video crew that had decamped to Stoudemire’s rented house in the hills to film footage promoting the duo’s collaboration on a women’s clothing collection. Some of that video is slated to appear on in-taxi video ads in New York City starting Sept. 8, when the fall and winter 2011 collection hits retail (which just happens to be the date of this year’s shop-stravaganza Fashion’s Night Out).

The professional basketball player is the most recent in a string of creative collaborators tapped by the

designer to work on her lower-priced “younger sister” RACHEL Rachel Roy women’s line, which is sold exclusively through Macy’s. Past partners have included singer/songwriter Estelle (for jewelry), model Jessica Stam (for sportswear and handbags) and surfer Karina Petroni (for footwear). In between photo shoots, Roy explained the partnerships: ‘With my Macy’s brand I’ve got so many styles to do every single season -- upward of 1,000 including jewelry, shoes, handbags and ready-to-wear –- that, I want to stay inspired, and I want my girls to stay inspired, which is why we bring in a different artist every season.”

Roy said she wasn’t familiar with Stoudemire –- or really a follower of basketball for that matter -- when the idea of working together was first mentioned. So when her people and his people finally all got in the same room last November, the two of them stepped out to talk privately.

“I wanted to make sure there was a synergy and a point of view,” Roy said, “and I left that meeting feeling that not only did he love fashion, but that he took it very seriously, and that I could rely on him to bring something new to the table.”

And one only needs to spend a few minutes around Stoudemire to realize that his passion for fashion goes much deeper than simply hiring a stylist to help dress him in custom threads from Waraire Boswell and head-to-toe Tom Ford suits.

Advertisement

During a break in the on-court action, Stoudemire pointed out a reporter’s straw fedora. “I was watching the Fashion Channel the other night and they were saying this season’s must have is a straw hat,” he said approvingly. Later, when he appeared for a photo shoot, he wore a striped Tom Ford dress shirt and trousers with a pair of Salvatore Ferragamo dress shoes on his feet.

So it’s not all that surprising that he’d have some notion of what he likes in clothes –- even when it comes to women’s clothes, though neither he nor Roy (who both say their relationship is business and not romantic, in case you were wondering) pretend the collaborative effort on the collection of “casual, courtside cool” is anything more than it is.

“He looked at lots of sketches, he made lots of decisions about colorways, logos and details like zippers -- we talked a lot about zippers,” Roy said. “And every once in awhile he’d make a big decision -- like getting rid of this jacket.” With that, Roy brandished a line sheet and pointed to a military-inspired jacket with chunky epaulets.

“I just thought it looked too militant for females,” Stoudemire said with a kind of half shrug. Roy said the collection was inspired by the energy and the fans of Madison Square Garden. “I wanted to bring something to women who go and watch basketball games or want to be comfortable on the weekends and still look polished and chic -– clothes that could be dressed up or dressed down.”

For his part, Stoudemire said it was important that the line “reflect a little swag[ger] -– and that everybody’s comfortable with what they’re wearing.”

The result is a range of athletic-inspired pieces based in a heather gray color palette with pops of orange accent color (one of the Knicks’ signature colors). Pieces include sweat pants, T-shirts, leather jackets, denim jackets and couple of dresses and a handful of graphic-print T-shirts, some bearing the number 1 (Stoudemire’s jersey number), and others emblazoned with a graffiti-inspired logo depicting a basketball and a heart and the names of both designers.

Advertisement

Some T-shirts have corset-style lace-up sides, others lace up the front, and although several of the pieces on hand last week were emblazoned with “New York,” or “Knicks,” Stoudemire said the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers would be among the select handful of other teams and cities that will be represented in the collection.

Asked to single out his favorite piece from the rolling rack, Stoudemire reached for a cropped gray denim jacket with the graffiti logo on the inner lining. “I think jean jackets are back in style,” he said. “Everybody’s wearing them now.”

But there was one fashion insight Stoudemire wasn’t willing to share: details about his much-rumored and anticipated move into the menswear arena.

“It’s going to be something nice – something different than what we’re doing here,” he said. “But you’ve just got to stay tuned, that’s all.”

-- Adam Tschorn

RELATED:

MVPs off the court

Model Jessica Stam designs a line for RACHEL Rachel Roy

Advertisement

Photos, from top: Pro basketball player Amare Stoudemire takes an elbow from designer Rachel Roy during the filming of an ad for their fashion collaboration in Hollywood on July 25; the duo discuss one of Stoudemire’s favorite pieces. The RACHEL Rachel Roy women’s collection they collaborated on will be available at Macy’s on Sept. 8. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

Advertisement