When the designer Emily Adams Bode Aujla says she is interested in American sportswear, she isn’t just thinking about the look of nylon mesh pinneys or leather-sleeved letterman jackets. Rather, she also considers “the importance of sports in American society, the idea of character building and of becoming a more virtuous person,” as she told GQ last year. In early 2024, she anchored the inaugural collection of her athletic-minded sublabel Bode Rec. around a sneaker created in collaboration with Nike, the retro-looking Astro Grabbers, which later made their public debut on the feet of one of the brand’s VIP clients: Baltimore Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith.
The brand Bode, which the designer founded out of her apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 2016, is one of fashion’s most successful word-of-mouth stories in recent memory. After the label’s heirloom-inspired pieces gained traction among the downtown artists, editors, and aesthetes—many of whom knew Bode Aujla personally—the 2022 opening of Bode’s Los Angeles boutique cracked open a portal for celebrities wearing the brand. Famous men like Harry Styles, Michael B. Jordan, and Ryan Reynolds began popping up in vintage-quilted chore coats and shirting covered with kitschy, clever embroidery. Soon, the label found a platform with arguably even more reach than Hollywood: the arena tunnels and pre-game paparazzi walks of professional athletes.
Before long, there was Russell Westbrook in custom Bode—a 1960s-wool four-pocket jacket and printed trousers crafted from 19th-century French blue toile—at the 2023 Met Gala. And Devin Booker rocking flowy, novelty-patch-covered trousers in the Suns’ pregame tunnel. And soccer star Megan Rapinoe in a custom cream-toned power suit, accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Last year, Olympian sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson wore a sequined Bode set with gold gladiator sandals in Vogue.
Now, some of the label’s biggest ambassadors are sports megastars, and the brand keeps good company in the pantheon of contemporary tunnel-fit stalwarts alongside Jerry Lorenzo’s Fear of God, Mike Amiri’s Amiri, and Rhuigi Villaseñor’s Rhude. Bode’s embroidered short-sleeve button-ups and boxy jackets flatter tall, muscular frames, and, whether intentioned or not, the label’s distinctive, Americana-forward designs pop against the flat trends of an Instagram feed. Famous athletes have a storied history of expressing their own personal style despite—and in spite of—the structural rigidity of professional sports. Their tenacity and their platform makes them potent trendsetters. If the pros have to wear uniforms on the court, why not wear the most outlandish, one-of-a-kind-looking duds off of it? Athletes, many of whom have or are in the process of making American history themselves, give a heritage-minded brand like Bode a whole new context.
Ahead of GQ and Bode’s upcoming GQ Bowl fashion show in New Orleans, we looked back on the brand’s league-defying popularity in the world of professional sports, from tunnel fits to the White House and beyond.
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