Marquez Valdes-Scantling, known colloquially as MVS, hails from St. Petersburg, Florida, and just recently signed a contract to play wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks. He became something of a household name during his tenure with the Kansas City Chiefs, having won two back-to-back Super Bowl rings in 2022 and 2023 (even though his first sport was baseball). He tells me that though he was an introverted child, his parents encouraged him to express himself however he saw fit. This led to his interest in expressing himself through his style. Now, he’s got his own clothing brand called Sik Selection (an acronym for Successful Innovative Kings), hosts his own fashion show called Luxe Fashion Fest in his hometown of Tampa, and he’s even modeled for some brands on the runway. MVS has also led various philanthropic efforts with his The Humble Beginnings Foundation—he credits the values of charity and giving back to his parents as well.
MVS started Luxe Fashion Fest just two years ago after seeing a 15-second clip of Michael Rubin’s all-white party on X. He liked the idea but because he’s not a partier and decided he’d rather host a bunch of cool people in Tampa and give innovative creators a space to showcase their work and use his platform. “Last year was our first year of doing it and it was amazing,” he says beaming. “I wanted to bring high-end fashion to my hometown, the Tampa Bay area, because it’s such a growing city. It’s such a hotbed for everything but fashion. We have sports, we have nice weather, we have beaches, but we just don’t have high-end fashion.”
Forever the innovator, MVS is also the first Five Fits With subject to buy an entirely new wardrobe for the purpose of doing this piece. In some ways, it’s a departure from why I started the column (to focus on the things people wear day-in and day-out). But in others, it also showcases precisely what personal style is—the ability to make garments work, to make a person feel comfortable in their own skin.
Below, we discuss how he found football, his obsession with Louis Vuitton bags, his own twist on the Five Fits franchise, and plenty more.
Fit One
Was there a moment where you realized you could go pro?
The summer before my senior year, I was going to these camps. I was an unknown kid at the time with one offer, maybe two stars, and I was up against the best kids in the state of Florida, which is a hotbed for athletes. I had an uncanny amount of confidence that I could play. I started bringing my quarterback with me. He was my best friend since pre-K and my quarterback in high school. We would go in and beat up on everybody at those camps. I was one of the MVPs at all these camps with four- or five-star kids. That’s how I got some notoriety going into my senior year.
How have you used your platform as a pro athlete outside of the NFL?
That’s been a big thing for me, whether it be through philanthropy, business ventures, giving back to my community, or even, with my fashion show, giving creators a space to showcase their creativeness. That’s been a huge, being able to go in and have a platform and give it to other people that may not have that same platform as me.
Was there a first moment that you became interested in clothing and style?
Being different has always been my thing since I was a little kid. No matter if it was a certain haircut that I wanted to wear like a bowl cut or a mohawk, being different was always my thing. As I got older, in high school and college, I was able to start putting pieces together. I hated dressing like an athlete. I hated wearing gym shorts and team sweats to class every day. I would be one of the only guys in the locker room that would be getting dressed up for class. After practice, I was taking a shower and bringing my clothes with me to the facility and changing and going to class in a whole fit just because it was something that I took pride in. There’s that stigma that people give you when you look like an athlete, like, “Oh, you don’t know anything.” Or, “He’s just a lazy athlete that’s good at sports, he doesn’t want to do anything outside of sports.” So, I always try to look the part no matter what the circumstances were.
Fit Two
Has your personal style changed much since you first came into the league to now?
I wouldn’t say that it’s changed a whole lot. I’ve been the same kind of guy that’s been different and flashy in certain styles. Like I said, I’m very introverted, so I don’t do a whole lot of talking outside of my fashion. Fashion is where I like to stand out. Obviously, there are [always] new trends that are in, whether it be skinny jeans back when I first got into the league in 2018 to big baggy clothes now, seven years later. I’ve been able to keep up with the times, but I’ve also been able to put my own spin to it.
What role, if any, does style play in the NFL?
It’s huge. We’re limited with what we can do on the field, so guys try to be creative with the design of their cleats or a style of glove that they wear or different things that they could do with their face mask. They try to bend the rules a little bit or they might take a fine and go and design custom pair of cleats just to showcase that they can be a little bit different. Obviously, off the field it’s a huge thing. Guys like to use tunnel fits as a runway. There are still some guys that come in sweatpants and Wrangler jeans, which is cool, but a lot of guys have decided to step it up and use these Sunday looks. It’s not many times where you’re going to have a professional photographer shoot you and you look your best. We might have an away game and I might bring two fits. We’ll have one for the plane and then one for the tunnel. So now instead of 17 looks, I have 34 looks that I can get pictures in.
Fit Three
You have your own brand, Sik Selection. Why did you start it?
Me and my two best friends started it back in 2018. It was something that I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to create. I’ve always wanted to showcase my creativity ability, and that’s something that I’ve taken pride in over the years. When I first started it, it was just T-shirts and we had no idea what we were doing. I bought 500 T-shirts, we did three designs, and we ended up selling out. It was just like, “Okay, we can actually do this.” Then we took a year and a half off because we just got so busy. One was doing his master’s program; one was in pharmacy school. Then we revamped it right after Covid. We went from T-shirts to streetwear to luxury streetwear, and now we’re doing cut and sew. It’s just been a slow process of building up and creating new things. Now that I have my own screen-printing company where we can do all these things in-house, it’s been a blessing for me to continue to grow this brand and continue to grow my vision with my two best friends.
What was your first significant purchase?
I don’t even know how many Louis Vuitton bags I have now, but buying my first brown traditional monogram duffel bag was a big purchase at that time. I still have it in my closet right now. I always wanted a Louis bag when I was coming up. I thought they were just the coolest prints and bags.
Fit Four
Do you have a crazy number of Louis bags?
Yeah, I have an insane number of Louis bags—just bags in general.
Why do you love bags so much?
They’re just convenient to carry the stuff that you have—car keys, wallet, mints, floss. I’m big on always having the essential things, hand sanitizer, and can’t have it all in my pockets all the time. Accessories are also super important for all your outfits. That’s why with every outfit that I had today, I had some type of bag or accessory. Accessories bring together your outfits. They can make an outfit go from eight to a nine, just like that.
What was your most recent purchase?
All the clothes that I bought out here in New York were for this shoot. I decided to bring nothing for it. And I was like, “We’re just going to do it live.” So every outfit that I had, I got it out here.
Where’d you go?
All day yesterday I shopped all over New York. I thought that would be a cool thing as opposed to just being like, “Yeah, I can just pack a suitcase and bring a bunch of stuff.” Like, “Nah, I’m going to go out and find it and put together every single outfit from head to toe.” It was nothing that wasn’t new that I had in this shoot today. I spent all day just lugging around bags and figuring it out on the fly.
Fit Five
Unless any of the other 140-ish subjects haven’t admitted it to me, you’re the first person to do that.
That was the goal.
If you had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it consist of?
It would probably be something for my brand, because I would rather put my name on something than somebody else’s. But that’s an impossible question for me to answer to be honest, man, I ain’t going to lie to you. It just depends on where I’m at, man, because of how I’m feeling. I have so many clothes…
Right now, this is the last outfit you’re going to wear.
And I’m stuck in New York forever?
Maybe.
I’ll throw on some type of flared jeans. Probably go leather jacket with a graphic tee underneath it. Rope chain on the belt loop, some Jordans on the feet, bucket hat up top, then put some jewelry on. Call up my jeweler, have them send out some new pieces. Since I have to wear it for the rest of my life, I want it to be new.
What Js would you tie yourself to for the rest of your life?
Obviously, you can’t go wrong with any Ones. Fours are good, too. OVO Twelves are one of my favorites. If I had to choose, it would be those or Chicago Off-White Ones.
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