Different but equal: the fashion legend of Allen Iverson & Shaquille O'Neal

If you look at them, Allen Iverson and Shaquille O'Neal seem to come from two different galaxies. One was born in Hampton, Virginia, the other in the beautiful but unlucky Newark, New Jersey. One has made his fortune out of his body, the other measures little more than one meter eighty (short to NBA standards) and from this limit he drew the inner strength to dominate the parquets of half America. One was a point guard, the other a center, the two essential opposites to build a successful roster. One, Shaq, has won everything there was to win, the other, Allen, was one of the greatest losers in the history of the game. Describing them so, you would expect they have no common points. Instead...

When the Hall of Fame of the NBA announced that it would have brought them both in the 2016 class (along with another legend, the Chinese Yao Ming), many similarities have surfaced to the memory of the fans. For example both have entered the NBA in the front door, by the first overall pick in the draft, both have revolutionized the NBA on and off the field. In the way so different they had to approach the League, Shaq and Iverson were ideals witnesses of magnificent 90s lived by NBA, when the basketball sketch in American homes, and not only with the signature sneaker, the funny commercial on TV and fashions.

Shaq and Iverson have shared first of all the sponsors, that Rebook that since 1989 had tried to fight the looming monopoly of Nike and the favorite son of America Jordan, by opposing the iconic Reebok Pump designed by Paul Brown and worn by Dominique Wilkins. The marriage between Shaquille O'Neal and the British company was immediate. It passed little, very little time from the first foot fielded between pro before it was customized by Reebok. Shaquille O'Neal is responsible for the first Rebook signature ever: the Shaq Attack.

"All I want to do is play basketball, drink Pepsi and wear Reebok", with this famous slogan he establishes the entry of that sneaker (which will also introduce the speed lacing technology) into the American mainstream, and if the Pump aimed to hinder the Nike on the technical side, with the landing of Shaq and his big face Reebok is strong enough to dress up even those who, of basketball, saw only a few postcards. The combination with Pepsi is perfect, the company's stock prices are excellent. Then came 1996, in some ways the perfect year for Reebok. It was released the new (fifth) Shaq signature and his absolute favorite shoe, the Shaqnosis, very special piece of design in which it collaborated O'Neal, making them his iconic sneaker for so many years. He even wore last week, during his sensational raid on the Wrestlemania ring.
But in 1996 it arrives in the league also another trump card of Reebok, the boy who now everybody call The Answer, and Reebok has already ready in stock the one that will become his first signature, symbolically called "The Question".

In the following edition, "The Answer", there are important innovations, like the introduction of the I3 logo and DMX technology, which quickly spread across all production lines. The relationship between Reebok and Iverson goes far beyond the individual sponsorship. The agreement signed between the two parties in fact, provided a sort of salary of $ 800,000, and Iverson's access to a trust fund of 32 million once completed 55 years. Iverson has messed up, promising it to his wife to convince her not to divorce after yet another quarrel. She has to first accept, but then, in short, has had access to about half of that heritage. Allen Iverson has lived in that way, always on the edge, every aspect of his life. Even the styling. He made famous bandanas in the NBA, carried backstage and in the press rooms that  gangsta rappers were beginning to impose on the media. Allen Iverson was the first to clear the use of cornrow, making cool stuff that until then had only seen in the ghettos. The Atlantic once called him "anti-cultural hero", to emphasize the rebellious nature of AI. The modern look of the fashion basketball players is indirectly by him.

In 2005 it is introduced that among the players is called "Allen Iverson Rule" or NBA dress code. Prohibited hats, baggy, gold necklaces and references too marked to hip hop culture of that time. David Stern, the commissioner, faces shrill charges of racism, which again remind that a blacks league controlled by whites is always a step from implosion. The "Malice At The Palace", the biggest fight of NBA history, also contributed to the choice and pushed the NBA to want to clean up its image and impose a press conference outfits. From there to the hipster turn of the most important modern exponents of the alloy, the pitch was shorter than expected.And also involved Shaq, who had just moved to Miami (to win another ring). He, who was a rapper, did not have, however, never married full style, preferring an "Al Capone style" not for more flattering force to Stern and company. The passion for haute couture gowns in Shaq even after the retirement, and combining it with its iconic dimensions has created a collection of sportswear and luxury suit&tie with Peerless Clothing, so that "no athlete should more have the difficulty that I had to find a dress that was not tailored. " It's used to taking everything Shaq, even the scepter of cutest commentator of all the American pay per view with his Shaqtin 'A Fool.

The perfect picture of the two, Shaq and Iverson, and their relationship with everything to do with fashion, style, Reebok, is a video of two years ago, when both appear in the commercial presentation of the new Reebok Kamizake , historical Shawn Kemp shoes, set in a typical American barber shop. Shaq plays the old man, criticizing too low and too ragged pants of some young people present; the discussion heats up, moving on basketball and rap (among the protagonists of the spot there is also French Montana, as well as the same Kemp). At one point, Allen Iverson spins his chair, and looking all indignantly asks the barber to take off his apron. With an inexplicable hat on his head, through the door, going out and continuing to exclaim: "Are we really talking about pants?". Quintessence of The Answer and Shaquille O'Neal, the last registered as legends.