Although some contrarians will argue otherwise, both casual fans and diehard hoops junkies agree that Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. And ESPN’s The Last Dance, a new 10-part documentary about the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls’s quest for a sixth title, vividly illustrates why the six-time NBA champion is held in such high regard. But the must-see series also highlights just how big of a deal Jordan was. He wasn’t just the most popular basketball player of the ‘90s, he was one of the decade’s most famous people in general.
As Dennis Rodman’s former agent Dwight Manley told Robb Report, Jordan and the Bulls teammates were a “crazy phenomenon” throughout the decade. They weren’t just a team you casually kept tabs on, they were a team the entire world stopped and watched. Everyone knew who Jordan was and wanted to be him. That’s why “Be Like Mike” became such an iconic ad campaign (and why Gatorade recently brought back after 28 years). But being like Mike wasn’t just about drinking Gatorade and dunking the ball. Here are nine ways you can dress and play like His Airness did then and continues to do today.
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Game-Worn Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls Uniform
Image Credit: Goldin Auctions Sure, anyone can buy a replica Jordan Bulls jersey. But if you’re really serious about being like Mike, you’ll want the real deal—one that was actually worn by the player in a game. No. 23 wore this black-and-red pinstripes alternate, along with the matching shorts, during an April 1997 game against the Detroit Pistons. It may not have been his best game—the Bulls lost and Jordan scored “just” 18 points—but a keepsake like this doesn’t become available that often. That’s exactly why it’s expected to sell for $250,000.
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Nike Air Jordan 1 ‘Player Sample’
Image Credit: Sotheby's It’s hard to fully convey the importance of Jordan’s signature shoe, the Air Jordan. It’s a sneaker that changed fashion, made Nike a household name and helped elevate sports stardom to the next level. And though there have been nearly three dozen iterations of the shoe, none is more iconic than the first. Of course, only a handful of pairs that were actually worn by the man himself still survive, and one just so happens to be up for auction at Sotheby’s right now. As of press time, bidding had reached $190,000.
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A Trademark Suit
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media/Shutterstock “I’m a suit guy” Jordan told GQ back in the ‘90s. And sure enough, aside from a Bulls jersey and the sneakers that bear his name, there’s no item of clothing more associated with No. 23 than a suit. But not just any old suit, we’re talking the billowing power suits with an extra-long jacket and wide-cut legs that defined the era. Though he was fond of all manner of brands, Burdi, an Italian menswear shop in Chicago, handled many of his custom suits during his playing days.
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Kangol Algobasque Beret
Image Credit: Kangol For someone who has one of the most famous bald heads of the 20th century—if not of all time—Jordan spent an awful lot of time wearing a hat. And, as The Last Dance shows, there’s no hat more closely associated with the peak of his career than a classic beret. While berets are most frequently associated with Parisians and undergrads making bad art, His Airness pulled the look off with aplomb. We don’t know exactly what brand he wore, but it’s likely that one from Kangol, the decade’s most famous beret maker stateside, adorned his head at least once.
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Reebok 1992 Dream Team Warm-Up Jacket
Image Credit: Reebok For his entire professional career, Jordan was a Nike man. He was so dedicated that the thought of wearing warm-ups from one of its main competitors, Reebok, during the 1992 Olympics disgusted him. Still, he was obliged to wear the tracksuit for the Dream Team’s gold medal ceremony. But Jordan figured out a clever workaround—he covered Reebok’s logo with a draped American flag. Well, in the wake of The Last Dance, the brand decided to poke a little fun at Jordan for that one and re-release an $80 version of the jacket.
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Partagás Lusitania Cigars
Image Credit: Top Cubans Don’t tell Jordan that smoking and high-level athletics don’t go together. No. 23 has been a daily smoker since 1993 and now that his playing days are behind him he’s been known to enjoy as many as six cigars a day, whether he’s out on the links or just sitting around playing cards. His stogie of choice: the Cuban Partagás Lusitania, available in boxes of 25.
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Cincoro Tequila
Image Credit: Courtesy of Cincoro But cigars aren’t the only way Jordan likes to unwind. He’s also fond of a nice drink. And while he can mainly be seen drinking a post-game can of Miller Lite in The Last Dance‘s archival footage, he’s moved on to the harder stuff, specifically tequila, in the more recent talking head shots. In fact, he’s so fond of the liquor that he, Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck and his wife Emilia Fazzalari, Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss, and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner, Wes Edens, started their own premium line, Cincoro. While the brand offers several varieties to choose from, the most noteworthy may be the $1,800 extra añejo, which is aged for 40-44 months.
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Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Pirelli, Ref. No. EX0745
Image Credit: Roger Dubuis It should be clear by now that Jordan likes expensive toys. And this includes watches. A fan of truly intricate timepieces—like the Urwerk UR-202—Jordan can be seen wearing a relatively understated Roger Dubuis on his wrist in some of his present-day sit-downs in The Last Dance. Of course, the key word in that last sentence is “relatively” because the watch, the $72,000 Excalibur Spider Pirelli – Automatic Skeleton, Ref. No. EX0745, is still a big and very gold choice marked by a skeleton dial and a strap made from the actual tires from a Formula One race-winning car.
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Ferrari 550 Maranello
Image Credit: Ferrari Like plenty of ultra-famous celebrities, Jordan has built himself quite the collection of gorgeous cars over the course of his time in the limelight. In The Last Dance, he can be seen driving everything from a C5 Corvette to a Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Slant Nose to a classic Land Rover Range Rover. Still, only one car made enough of an impression on Jordan that it became the basis for basis for one of his sneakers—the Ferrari 550 Maranello. An a 1999 model of the car, with just 17,148 miles on it, will run you $169,800.
