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The Miami Heat aren't in the NBA Finals this month, but that doesn't mean that Dwyane Wade hasn't been staying busy. The 34-year-old shooting guard has an active sideline career in the fashion world and touched down in New York City this week with clothes on the brain, starting with attending the CFDA Awards on Monday night with Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne of Public School.
"I’ve known those guys for over a decade — I love what they’re doing in pop culture and urban communities and what they’re doing for style," Wade told Racked at the opening of The Tie Bar pop-up shop that's running through the weekend in Nolita, featuring both his new and old design collaborations with the men's accessories brand. "I’m rocking with those two guys right now. I went to their fashion show and told them, I need everything!"
The show was notable because it showed men's and women's apparel together outside of the typical fashion calendar, something that could become the new normal in the industry in the next few years. But Wade might not be ready for a total merger just yet — he said he'll be back in the city next month for New York Fashion Week: Men's in July, the best part of which is that even exists in the first place.
"Women’s fashion is so big and it’s amazing, but men are making small, small, small steps," Wade said. "It's cool to have our own thing — fashion needs men's equality!"
Wade's definitely doing his part to give men a fashion boost with this pop-up, a teeny Tiki-themed shop where nothing's more than $25. He demonstrated how to style it, too — his green-patterned tie stood out against a crisp white shirt and form-fitting light gray suit — and hinted that the rest of this trip would be a sartorial boon for him and his stylist, Calyann Barnett.
"One thing I love about New York is that you can find pieces that you just don’t see" anywhere else, he said, comparing NYC to the other cities he's grown familiar with traveling for games over the years. "To be able to come here, it’s like, go hit up the stores and see what you can find, bring me something different that I haven’t seen. I try not to wear what everyone else is wearing — I try to start my own trends and get ahead of the curve a little bit. So New York allows me to do different things."
The Tiki Tie Bar is open at 171 Elizabeth Street from Thursday, June 9th through Sunday, June 12th.