When people think of fashion, their mind usually jumps to places like New York, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris, and Tokyo. These are the places where wacky ideas and unorthodox clothing are combined and placed upon models who usually don't reflect the image of mass society.
When people try to combine fashion and Wisconsin, the consensus usually involves work boots, flannel, overalls, and Wrangler Jeans. To be blunt, it's not at the forefront of the fashion world. And we don't try to be; Wisconsinites are assumed to have well known for their taste in the more practical and sensible. I know I'm a Midwesterner when it comes to fashion. My wardrobe consists of three pairs of jeans (two nicer ones, one with holes and such), a bunch of athletic shorts, some khaki pants, and a whole bunch of football and basketball t-shirts from high school and college. Clearly, fashion is not my thing.
But it turns out that fashion is important to some of Wisconsin's highest-profile citizens: our sports stars.
I got an e-mail from someone who tipped me off to an interview that Ryan Grant did with e-Moda.com, an online lifestyle magazine. Usually, athletes do interviews all the time for all sorts of different publications, but this one had an interesting twist: there was a photo shoot involved.
Who had any idea that Ryan Grant was into the fancy threads? It's not really a total shock, considering he's a) from NYC and b) not an ugly man. So I got to thinking: does Wisconsin have any other famous athletes that are into clothes?
Why yes, yes it does. Ryan Braun, Milwaukee's All-Star left fielder and home run extraordinaire, actually partially owns REMETEE, a clothing line based in Los Angeles. Deadspin.com mentioned his presence at the company's launch party (mainly because about 80% Deadspin's coverage involves athletes wearing clothes other than their uniforms), and Braun wasn't camera shy.
Damn. Brauny's on fire. The shirts are too busy for me. Then again, I'm currently wearing one that simply says "2002 JV CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS" on it, and even that's almost too much.
Naturally, I saved the best for last. Andrew Bogut, would you please show us what you've got?
Bogut rocked this sweet suit in February during one of his many stints on the injured reserve. Thankfully, our buddies over at BrewHoop were quick to pounce on it. A lot of people had a lot of questions about the suit, like "Why?" and "No, really, why?" Bogut answered these questions in his blog:
I have been the locker room joke lately with some of my outfits. Usually I’m pretty neutral. Keep it simple you know. The consensus was 0 out of 5 after coach put a rating chart on the whiteboard before the next practice. That’s part one of the story.
Part two is that I love to wear white loafers with jeans and a casual shirt and jacket. Apparently there is a unwritten rule somewhere that White shouldn’t be worn until after Presidents day, which I believe is this Monday? So after my poor rating punk rock look, I decided to step it up a notch. Knowing that President’s day had not yet passed what better than a white hot suit in the middle of a Milwaukee winter. I think if you were at the game you will undoubtedly agree the price of admission was a bargain. On top of that the new consensus rating out of 5 from most of my team mates was 5. Not a bad average I’ll say. 2.5 is pretty steady and now I can sleep like a baby at night!
Hey, a 50% jump is certainly an improvement. I'm just impressed he found a white suit to fit his 7'0", 250+ frame.
So there you have it. Wisconsin's top three sports teams have players that are tuned in to the fashion world. But the burning question of the hour is this: who looks the best?