L.A. Clippers step out in style to Burberry runway screening
The day after handing the Lakers a 36-point drubbing downtown, the Los Angeles Clippers brought their style A game to a Jan. 11 party in Beverly Hills hosted by Clips center DeAndre Jordan and his stylist Paige Geran at Burberry’s Wilshire Boulevard boutique.
The event included a screening of the British brand’s fall-winter 2014 menswear runway show (which had taken place in London three days earlier), cocktails and the opportunity for party-goers to pre-order made-to-order pieces from the runway collection on the spot from tablet-wielding Burberrians.
Jordan turned out to the party in a sharp-looking, slim-fitting custom-made gray two-button Burberry suit that somehow made him seem even taller than his listed 6 feet 11 inches, his necktie held perfectly in place with a silver tie bar. (Stylist Geran told us that Jordan’s ensemble marks the first time Burberry had crafted a full custom suit for an NBA player.)
“I used to not wear things like this,†he told us (referring to the slim silhouette of his suit), “when I was younger and like 200 pounds I wore those pants that were really baggy.â€
Unlike some of his NBA brethren (Tyson Chandler, Dwyane Wade and Russell Westbrook among them), Jordan told us he had yet to attend an actual fashion runway show. “But I’d really like to,†he said.
After the screening we asked Jordan if there was anything in the collection that particularly struck his fancy. “I really liked the sweaters,†he said. “and the trenchcoats and scarves. Oh, and the bags too — the bags were really nice.â€
The host was hardly the only one demonstrating a full-court style offense at the party, either.
Chris Paul showed up sporting a black and green plaid double-breasted DSquared2 jacket, accented with both a polka-dot pocket square and a Lanvin silk flower lapel pin (we later noticed he was sporting a pair of orange-soled Louis Vuitton slip-on sneakers).
Blake Griffin, who worked the room dispensing baseball-glove-sized handshakes and posing for photos like a politician on a reelection whistlestop told us that while he wasn’t wearing a Burberry suit, he was accessorizing with one of the label’s silk pocket squares.
(Even Matt Barnes took things up a notch — although he wasn’t wearing a jacket, he was sporting a pink spread-collar dress shirt, gray pinstriped trousers and a gray Psycho Bunny waistcoat.)
The rest of the party attendees included a range of Jordan’s family and friends. The first category included his mother and stepfather, who happened to be visiting from Houston, and the second category included Rocky Kanaka and Kelly Hannaford, the founders of a 1 1/2-year-old charitable organization called Dog for Dog that started working with the player (who has a pet boxer) about a month ago.
“He’s already helped us raise awareness,†said Kanaka, who explained that his organization uses the one-for-one model (like Toms Shoes does with footwear for example) that donates a bag of dog food to a canine rescue group for each one purchased.
Which, by our reckoning, means that DeAndre Jordan wasn’t just putting on the dog for the event (as the old saying goes) — he was actually was feeding it too.
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