“What you put on is the first thing people see, so it's like you're speaking to them without even having a conversation...”
—Keion White, Defensive End of the New England Patriots
Similarly to uniforms in sports, clothing can convey a certain message or heritage. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, shares, “when you study African history, you come across different symbols, different colors, different patterns that all signify something, whether it's age, status...The reason people [wear] things is not because there just happens to be an [item in front of them], it’s because of the culture behind it.” To prepare for a “Game Day Fit,” Owusu-Koramoah shares, “one week, I may end up going to one of the local African boutiques or I may have a designer over in Cote d'Ivoire, or Ghana, or Nigeria that I've asked to source for me. And it's a profound experience too, because when you think about wearing something and specifically for me, most of what I wear is African traditional or diasporic African traditional, so when you wear a piece, it’s almost like a nation behind you.”
Kinglsey Jonathan, Defensive End of the Buffalo Bills, who also wears traditional African clothing from time-to-time, shares that, “for me, the process of getting ready for the ‘Game Day Fit’—it can happen in two days or it can happen a week before. I work closely with my stylist, Zoe...she let’s me be myself...but she puts me in some uncomfortable zones that I have never been in nor thought about, so that’s how I push myself when it comes to fashion.”
For Shaq Lawson, preparations happen throughout the week and he often has to call “an audible” and go for a different “Game Day Fit” due to uncertain climate in Buffalo, New York.
