Page 88 - Esquire - USA (Winter 2020)
P. 88
HE’S PORTRAYING OUR
TRAGEDIES AND
Spring/Summer 2020 fashion show. (MBJ “Everybody can’t be expected to do every- TRIUMPHS UP ON THAT
was named the brand’s first Global Face of thing,” says MBJ’s homeboy Coogler. “But ev-
men’s wear in September 2018, and this erybody got to do something. So it’s the idea SCREEN, ALL THE
past October released a capsule collection of: What part can we play?”
of his own designs inspired by the Japanese Once the show ended—it lasted less than WHILE SAYING, LOOK,
manga series Naruto.) The show’s chic set ten minutes—Jordan rose, posed for a few SAYING, LOOK
featured bleacher seating, fuchsia-painted more photos with his front-row neighbors and
floodlights, a stacked configuration of lime- his amped-up invitees, and then, with escorts, AGAIN, ASKING, DO YOU
green speakers. Artist Simone Leigh’s giant zip-a-dee-doo-dahed down a narrow passage- SEE US?
bronze bust Brick House towered in the way, down flights of stairs, and out of sight.
center of the space, surrounded by rows of
bleacher seats on all sides. In one of those
front rows sat British Vogue editor in chief
Edward Enninful, and in another, NBA fash-
ionisto P.J. Tucker.
MBJ, aplomb dialed to a zillion, swanked MBJ and the crew head downstairs to the
out just minutes before the show began, drama department, to a small, windowless
wearing a light denim jacket with a shearling room with bare walls and just a few desks.
collar, army-green pants with a black hol- He’s greeted by his old drama teacher Mr.
ster strapped to the leg, and combat boots— Gonzalez—an affable-looking middle-
all from his collection. A phalanx of excited aged Latinx man with short hair and
teens he’d invited from Newark Tech High glasses—and a dozen or so drama students,
School’s fashion club bopped behind him. almost all of them girls. They squeal and
MBJ stopped at his front-row seat and posed grab one another when Jordan stands just
for pics, smiling fulgent as the floodlights, inside the threshold.
then sat beside his friend NBA superstar Mr. Gonzalez grinning beside him, Jor-
Kyrie Irving and up-and-coming rapper dan talks about studying drama in the very
Megan Thee Stallion. The jubilant teens same room, about having to memorize mono-
climbed into the bleachers above Jordan. logues. “You might not want to do some of the
Soon after, the models runwayed out to stuff, but I promise you if you listen to him,
Human League’s “The Things That Dreams he’ll get you ready,” he says. He pledges to re-
Are Made Of” wearing leather and prints and turn and spend more time, an assurance that
tanks and tees and jackets, some of which makes the girls go even more giddy.
were the same colors as the speakers and Word of Jordan’s presence has spread, and
lights. MBJ, hands clasped, watched the mod- there are now talks of an impromptu school-
els pass. He was attentive, but he’d also men- wide assembly. This addition to the schedule
tioned over lunch before the show that he was has got several members of the production
hoping to make it to Newark later that eve- team on straight tenterhooks. MBJ’s in a time T-shirt by Barneys
ning for his great-aunt’s eightieth-birthday crunch and will leave right from the school to New York; trousers by
party. Tethered though he may be to the world catch a flight to Berlin and begin working on Louis Vuitton;
of premieres and after-parties, to fashion Without Remorse, a sure-thing blockbuster watch by Piaget; neck-
shoots and shows, he wasn’t just there rep- based on a Tom Clancy book. Crew mem- lace, Jordan’s own.
resenting Coach, fresh to death in his own bers usher MBJ back to his trailer for another
designs—he was there with a class of high wardrobe change.
school students he went to the trouble of in- Minutes later, here comes Jordan troop-
viting as his guests, kids who lived just across ing down a third-floor hallway. The PA sys-
the Hudson River but umpteen miles away tem crackles on, and Principal Pedro an-
from this bright universe. nounces there will indeed be an assembly,
No doubt the most excited audience and relays instructions. It’s been hot the dozens of glowing phone screens trained
members were those teen invitees, the ones whole day, and the whole day Jordan has on MBJ, many of their owners standing
who snapped pictures and turned to one an- been wearing leather and wool and suffer- for a better vantage point. Jordan stands
other with I-can’t-believe-this-is-happen- ing for it with sweat. in the center of the stage, wireless mic in
ing faces. It seemed essential Jordan: par- A makeup artist keeps dabbing his fore- hand, a greenscreen behind him. At stage
laying his Hollywood status into lending head. He doesn’t complain. right stand a clutch of adults and the pro-
a hand—helping these kids with their fu- “I’m low-maintenance. Or try to be,” he’d duction team’s sound guy, holding a boom
ture careers, helping the kids at Arts High told me the day before. mic high above.
with an inspiring visit, helping Bryan Ste- In the auditorium, a few hundred stu- Jordan doesn’t talk long and ends with a
venson’s Equal Justice Initiative by play- dents cheer, scream, whoop—oh, I’ve seen promise: “I’m on a crazy schedule right now,
ing him in a movie, helping the guy he sur- a few pep rallies in my day, and this one but I’ll come back and talk to y’all for real and
prise-visited a couple days ago in Newark, ranks prime. Teachers, staff, and school se- have some one-on-one time with y’all,” and
a formerly incarcerated man who now runs curity line the back and side walls. From with that he draws the loudest cheers I’d heard
a nonprofit. my spot back with school employees, I see any place I saw him over the four days.
