Also this issue:

Boy in the Hood
Want a sweatshirt that says home? Ask Michael de Zayas -- after he finishes packing.
-Jen Darr

Icepack
-A.D. Amorosi

January 2- 8, 2003

naked city

firstlook

by A.D. Amorosi

Not to get all anti-Leni-Riefenstahl-n-all, but the veneration of sports and sporting (or not-very-sporting) icons to a level of high, fine art makes me squirm. Yet, there's a fascinating dedication toward making the gear of sports -- sneakers with the high-tech schematics of a nuclear sub, plush outerwear -- aesthetically striking, fashionable art in league with a Balenciaga. If, say, Balenciaga coached the Knicks. Add in the names of some sports superstars and you've got yourself a massive, ego-stroked art form worthy of a Caesar. Or at least a Happy Meal.

So to see South Street and Reebok sneakers unite under the banner -- literally -- of 76er Allen Iverson for Reebok's first stand-alone retail store is really something grand. Intended to be a place where cutting-edge footwear and apparel represent a mix of urban fashion, athletic artistry and hip-hop attitude, the RBK salon is a futuristic fab-snooty hang suite of sports and entertainment, an interactive shopping experience where you can listen to rows of CDs (Missy, Run-D.M.C.) or dig live DJs like Cosmic Kev while checking out basketball jerseys and black RBK game balls. The space resonates crisp, clean cool, with a narrow two-floor space done up, primarily, in silver, white, glass and opaque lucites set against brick walls. Jerseys hang from the ceiling and sneakers are displayed in rectangular silver and glass cases as if objets d'art. A cash register is done up in glowing white opaques, a motif repeated for RBK's backlit-red wall leading to floor two, with its rows of silver porta-CD players. The coolest part of the room is the portal wall of hard silver plastic with round glass windows bolted in, a mix of circles alternately containing bass speakers, sneakers and tops.

Still, all this seems pointless without The Answer. On opening night, while klieg lights glared and hip-hop locals (Freeway, Jazzy Jeff) milled around, Iverson strolled through the crowd. Eyeballing his RBK signature collection of black sneakers and tops, the merging of product and personage suddenly become clear, as if the guy who invented the hamburger went marching through McDonald's. Like its Philly spokesman, the RBK store is sleek and lean -- and just a little disturbing.

RBK, 414 South St., 215-923-3471.