‘Air’ Dressed Nike Behind the Times So Michael Jordan Looks Like the Future
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“Air” was a labor of love for a lot of people, evidenced not least by Ben Affleck’s willingness to wear peak ’80s jackets and athleisure clothing as Nike boss Phil Knight. But all of the clothing, as organized by costume designer Charlese Antoinette Jones, gives audiences a sense of the era in which Nike marketing exec Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) seeks a new kind of partnership with young phenom Michael Jordan. The costumes also help pinpoint Nike’s relative standing in the industry in relation to Converse and Adidas, marking Vaccaro and his team as underdogs.
“I wanted [Nike] to feel behind,” Jones told IndieWire. “I wanted them to definitely feel behind the times, like they hadn’t quite caught up to the fashion. I really wanted the Portland offices to reflect that time before we had Internet, before trends were widely dispersed globally like they are now and there were more regional fashion styles.”
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Denoting geography through fashion was especially important, given the film was shot in Los Angeles; it’s mostly down to how in-line (or not) the different sneaker companies are with ‘the’80s fashions that give a sense of their places in the world and within the hierarchy of sneaker companies.
“I’m really proud of being able to distinguish between Portland and Germany, where the Adidas offices are, and Converse, because it’s all [done] through suiting, for the most part,” Jones said. “Even though everyone’s in suits, I’m proud of how different the worlds look, the different geographical styles and vibes. We shot everything in L.A., but it feels global in this cool way.”
Nike’s Portland headquarters definitely feel less like a hipster hub and more like the final stop along the Oregon Trail, which makes Sonny’s prospects of signing an NBA star in the making feel like that much more of an uphill climb. The underdog ethos of the Nike offices also helps Phil Knight’s idiosyncrasies stand out all the more, sartorially and otherwise.
“It was a time when people didn’t wear athletic wear out much,” Jones said. “There’s very little athletic wear in the film. But we had the opportunity, because Phil goes for a run, and Phil as the leader of the company is way more forward-thinking, so that’s why I was able to put that [purple tracksuit] in the film.”
Jones picked up on the idea that Knight would constantly be testing new Nike merchandise, from the blue-black-red windbreaker that marks the nadir of his optimism in the Jordan deal to the hot pink running shorts and shirt Jones built for Knight to wear into the office over the weekend to offer Sonny moral support. But many things in the film came out of Jones’s research into the real Nike of that era.
“The tracksuit is based off a ‘60 Minutes’ news segment where he’s actually running in the segment in something very similar, with those crazy Oakley glasses on,” Jones said. “I looked at as many photographs as I could and I figured out, based on the photos over time, what [each character’s] style was and built out closets and made them very distinct characters.”
Research also led Jones to a wonderful fashion progression for Dolores Jordan (Viola Davis). She’s also suited for each of the three sneaker pitches, but each suit betrays how comfortable she is (or isn’t) with each deal. “In these meetings, she’s very much [wearing her clothes] like an armor. She’s suited up in darker colors. Then in the Nike meeting, she’s in a lighter color and it’s a little bit more of a relaxed suiting,” Jones said. “It was based on actual research but it worked out for our story as well. So that was like a happy accident.”
But Jones relishes the other looks she created for Davis, the casual clothes that say something about the life experience and conviction she brings looking after her son’s interests. For the weekend when Sonny ambushes the Jordans at their home, Jones picked out a thrifted T-shirt that nonetheless gives a sense of how formidable Dolores is.
“Back then when you traveled, it was a big deal and you got a special T-shirt and that would be your weekend T-shirt. And she’s a Christian woman, so she would wear a denim skirt of a certain length, a modest length, the Pro-Keds. These are things that I remember as a Black woman my mom and my grandma and my aunties wearing in the ’80s, so it was a really fun [look] to create and make feel natural for that environment and that moment,” Jones said.
But the real power move in the film’s costuming is in the choices Jones deliberately did not make until the very end. “There’s minimal red in the film. I don’t really start implementing red until after you see the shoe,” Jones said. “After you see the shoe, then Sonny has on a polo with a red stripe on it, and that was completely purposeful. There are no bright, vibrant, cherry reds in the film because I wanted [the sneaker] to be the focal point.”
The choice to forgo red until the creation of the Air Jordan wordlessly signals how the innovation of the Nike-Jordan partnership changed the world in small, tangible ways. Whether in sneaker trends or the power dynamic between athletes and brands, “Air” doesn’t just tell us why Michael Jordan matters; it shows the difference he’s made.
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