You have to have a sense of work ethic if you are to succeed, they’d drill into Shai. How you carry yourself and present yourself to the rest of the world is massively important, they would tell Shai. I’m confident in myself.” That’s another one of his parents’ secrets. If I don’t wanna do something, I won’t do it. “I guess I’m just comfortable in my own skin. I know what I need to do every night and I go out and do it then I go home,” he says.
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He’s taciturn on purpose: the entire world doesn’t need to know what Shai is like in his down time. Shai doesn’t always want everyone to see these moments. At the counter in Dover Street Market, he breaks into an invisible crossover while his friend, Walter Harvin, a Harlem fashionista, plays imaginary defense. Typically, Shai says, he’s naturally more of a homebody-someone who revels in binge-watching Burn Notice with his cousin, Pelicans guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, spending time with his girlfriend (who he was doing all of this shopping for.mostly….he swears), and humming Drake bangers. “Do you really like those?” the stylist Elizabeth Saltzman asks. His gangly 6-foot-6 frame sprints toward a dozen bags of gummy bears and steals an entire one for himself. “Okay, I’m really a 13 but I don’t like my feet lookin’ too long.” Seems reasonable. Someone asks his size for a pair of wing tips and he gets squeamish. If he wanted to launch his garments into the sky, someone would dive to ensure they didn't hit the floor. If he doesn’t love a pair of pants, they’re tailored on the spot. If a blazer is slightly off his shoulder, it is adjusted. In a lavish suite stylists and assistants await Shai’s every beck and whim. On the 22nd floor folks from Tom Ford greet Shai for a fitting in Ford’s sleekest menswear, which he’ll strut to the brand’s show two days later. We crawl into a stuffy beige elevator nearby and swing into the sky. Today, he collects me in the lobby of Manhattan’s Carlyle Hotel in jeans I’d never seen and Off White “Lemonade” Air Force 1s. All you need to do is look at his clothes.Ībout that, Shai was right. But what I learn after spending too many hours in too many stores with the guy is that his preference has a purpose.
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The book on Shai is that, at a moment when the game’s brightest have never been louder, he’s quiet, happier to be a basketball hermit than a genuine NBA star. Exactly how many cardigans from Dover Street Market does someone need? That’s the wrong question if that someone, like Shai, owns over 1,000 t-shirts, color coordinated in his closet. He perused enough tight leather that he could’ve starred in a video for the Weeknd. Earlier in the day, we went shopping for three hours all across Lower Manhattan while Shai was held up by Prada overalls. Last night, he was at Kelly Oubre’s launch party for his fashion line, leaping from a Chevy Suburban in a flashy jacket with no shirt underneath, looking right at home. Only, for a guy with three years under his belt, he’s carrying himself like a veteran. Haven’t we all? An NBA star’s first Fashion Week is something of a rite of passage, and Shai, fresh off a borderline All-Star season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, is here to partake. “Had a long night?” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander asks, with a smile.