Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade, hosted an exclusive styling event at the Hublot Galerie boutique in the Miami Design District last night. Wade, one of Hublot’s first brand ambassadors, has a second limited edition Hublot now at the boutique. The event was in partnership with style director, Calyann Barnett and French luxury men’s brand Berluti, in anticipation of his Night on the RunWade and the exciting season ahead. Beluti’s U.S. managing director, Patrick Ottomani was on hand as well to inform on the unique clothing and accessories as well. Haute Living‘s editor Hadley Henriette had a chance to catch up with the fashionable player.
HH: This is your second Dwyane Wade Hublot. What is different?
DW: The first time, I was a basketball player going into the watch world, so it was very basketball-inspired. That one sold well, and people got to know me, so this time we took the next step. For me, that step is with [a watch] you can dress up a little and wear with suits. We changed the bezel on it and added touches of gold, black and red – colors I love.The time pieces that Hublot makes are amazing, and for me to be able to create my own… well, I would love to be able to do it for the rest of my life!
HH: How do you gauge your success of these limited editions?
DW: Sales are important in the short term, but, for me, it’s like art. It takes time and you may not know until twenty years later. That’s when you can see if people are going crazy about it.. still collecting it.
HH: What do you think of Berluti?
DW: I have to admit, I didn’t know a lot about the brand until we started working on this event together and I got a chance to touch feel their product. I was amazed, its good stuff, its like, next level. I was able to out on some clothes and it fitted me automatically right off the rack, and to me, that’s huge. Also, I’m a detail guy. I love the small things. I got a Berluti boot, and it looked like a regular boot, and the in the front, it had kind of like a holster on top of the boot, so you could take that off and wear it two different ways. To me, that was so cool.
HH: What are you feeling this year, fashion-wise?
DW: I’m about uniforms right now. So I decided that this year, at every event or game I’m going to I will wear some shade of grey. It’s sort of a Fifty Shades of Grey theme. I sat down with my stylist, [Calyann Barnett], and lined everything up. I didn’t realize how many shades of grey I had until I saw it all. But I really like to coordinate everything. When I get dressed, I [even] want my underwear to match, so everything this year is about the uniform.
HH: A lot of very talented designers wear uniforms everyday while designing for everybody else.
DW: Exactly!
HH: You took a course at Harvard this year. Is that helping your business game?
DW: I wanted to go and learn things from the other side. See how people in business entertainment, sports and marketing look at athletes, celebrities, and certain things. I was one of those kids in class that always raised his hand, and had a lot of opinions, and I realized I knew more about business than I realized just from being involved in it. I walked away with different ideas about how I want to run my business, different ways I want to look at my business, and do things a little differently.
HH: You certainly have a lot of business endeavors to apply it to. Tell us about the Wade wine. Have you always loved wine?
DW: Great question. I didn’t really drink anything until I was 30 years-old, but when I had that birthday, I thought it was a good age to get into wine. It’s taken two years to get this wine produced and bottled, so I started when I was 31. I like how classy sitting down with a nice glass of wine feels, but I only do it every once in a while. I’m not one of those guys who drinks all the time.
HH: Why did you decide to release it in China before the U.S.?
DW: China is a huge market for the NBA, and I have businesses there, so I decided on it because I understand that market. Napa wines are emerging and getting more popular in China, so I thought ‘that’s where I want to be.’ As for the U.S., it’s just in a few places in Miami so far. I want be very selective about it and not oversaturated the market, but take it slow.
HH: So what do you have in store for Art Basel? Will you be here?
DW: Yes. We have some things planned, but I don’t know if I can give you any more details yet!
