Confidence, curation and collaboration: How one IU student impressed Myles Turner, then outfitted him for the biggest game of the season

Source: Fieldhouse Files with Scott Agness

BLOOMINGTON — For years, Myles Turner followed the fashion industry but he didn’t take it seriously. “My first couple years in the league, I didn't really care about how I dressed,” he said. “I wore like Nike Tech suits every day.”

However, much like his game on the court, his fashion sense and style has evolved as he’s matured and gotten older.

“I'm a brand,” he continued. “I'm a global brand at that, just a walking billboard, so I like to represent myself in the best way I can.”

For most of his career, he took pride in not having a stylist like many players do. He did hire a personal shopper to help with the process — NBA money affords him that — but he took ownership in what he wore and the statement made.

“I feel like I’m an artist in everything I do, even more so than an athlete,” he told Fieldhouse Files last summer after spending 14 days in Italy and attending the Milan Fashion Week.

Then after his rookie contract and entering Year 5, he began to trust more and hired a personal stylist. And that’s when he began to take his fashion game to another level.

“I started to wear crazier stuff,” he said. “Because the biggest thing with fashion is you can always make a splash somewhere. No matter how ridiculous something is you wear, someone's going to be talking, someone is going to have eyes on you.

“So I started to wear crazier and crazier stuff. But then I got a little bit of sophistication as I got older.”

Gaining inspiration from his younger sister (My’a), a model, Turner attended fashion week with her and it opened his eyes to so much more. He previously didn’t know the brands or what went on in the industry. But he continues to learn more, take more risks and have fun with it along the way.

“I’m not one of those guys who just likes to wear brands just to wear brands,” he said. “I want to show who I am as a person in all my looks, and I’m very versatile.”

Like Tyrese Haliburton, Turner wasn’t in college long. Haliburton attended Iowa State University for two years while Turner was at the University of Texas for just one. Then he was drafted 11th overall by the Pacers in 2015 and he’s been there ever since.

Nine seasons. Four head coaches. Three contracts. Dozens of trade rumors. And now he’s the franchise’s all-time leader in blocked shots.

But those two players have tapped into young fashion designers and given them an opportunity of a lifetime.

For the second straight year, fashion consultant (and IU grad) Dan Solomon hosted a “Fashion Within Sports” panel inside the Whittenberger Auditorium at Indiana University’s Memorial Union in February.

Last year, it was Haliburton sharing his fashion journey with students. They’re not there to discuss basketball; instead, they heard about his inspiration, evolution from vintage t-shirts to unique looks, brand deals, what it means to NBA players and more.

This year, Turner, 28, wanted in. And of course students wanted to hear the perspective of another successful NBA player with his own unique style and more than $100 million in career earnings.

For a month, they had the event date on the calendar. And with so many activities and appearances scheduled, Turner remained in town for Indy’s All-Star Weekend. However, the practice time on the following Tuesday got pushed back so he couldn’t make it down to Bloomington.

But that didn’t keep him from making an appearance via video to address the students and share his fashion journey.

Also on the panel:

• Sam Rose, CAA agent (for Obi Toppin, Isaiah Jackson, Jalen Brunson, former IU star OG Anunoby and more)

• Max Siegelman, founder of Siegelman Stable

• Nick Bowersox, president of MNML

For more than 80 minutes, the group sat at the front of the room and detailed their business experience and expertise, what works and how to set yourself up to succeed, and then they answered questions.

As it relates to Turner and the NBA, one of the marquee moments that came up are the tunnel walks — which has become a thing. Before each game, you see teams post many photos of players either leaving the hotel or walking into the arena. Some teams have gone so far as to have a red carpet for the moment.

The Pacers’ digital team, for instance, captures players in a hallway at home games as they make the walk from the practice facility, where they park, to the fieldhouse. It’s sponsored and shared on multiple social media platforms.

“The biggest thing now in the NBA, outside of the actual game, is the tunnel walk and the tunnel fit and what guys are wearing,” said Rose. “The Instagram and Twitter’s of the world with LeagueFits and BallisLife, and all these companies that are covering what the guys are wearing and the photographers are getting them coming out of the hotel — it’s really taken on a life of its own that, quite honestly, like three or four years ago nobody really cared.

“Now it’s like what’s he wearing, where’d he get it from, who got it for him, where’d he shop? All those questions are being asked. So our job on the agency side is … how do we get marketing dollars out of that? It’s identifying the right brands where we can build a partnership with them.”

Siegelman took it one step further. As he launched Siegelman Stable, the visibility from tunnel walks helped his company off the ground. In 2020, with the entire NBA isolated in an Orlando bubble on the Disney campus, he sent apparel to players.

“All I did was change the player name and team name,” he said, “ then sent it to 15 guys and then had like LeBron viewing our Instagram story with like 15 followers on Instagram. That was the best thing that we could have done to start our brand.”

For most students inside the auditorium, this Tuesday night was a chance to hear from those who were once in their seat and have now made it — designers, consultants, brand owners and an NBA player.

Afterward, there was a breakout session for each speaker. And a select group of students were chosen to hear from Solomon, along with Emma Taylor — a junior fashion student who designed an outfit for Haliburton one year ago.

Solomon made opening comments highlighting how a portion of the group would pitch Turner on their designs and one talented student would be tasked with executing — with an emphasis on being able to make everything that he or she designed for Turner and then the exposure to potentially millions on social media.

“Tyrese actually didn't play that game,” Solomon told the group of last year. “So he literally wore it on the bench the entire game, which was even better. But it's an incredible experience.”

And Fieldhouse Files was exclusively invited to sit in on every step of the process.

Taylor shared her experience and, as the first winner, she played a key role in making this happen.

“I applied really last minute,” she said. “I really felt unprepared because I only did one sketch and I was really not confident in my presentation. But still went up there, still owned it and I think that's key for all of you. Just really being confident and really giving a good explanation for why you design what you design.”

And one student took that message to heart.

Christiana Kategiannis, in the red above, is a junior fashion design student. She was one of seven finalists on a Zoom call held at a later date; she presented fourth.

Solomon welcomed her to the Zoom call, then said “Better kill it for him.”

“Oh yeah, I will,” she replied without hesitation. “Don’t worry.”

Her beginning, middle and end were as good as it gets.

Powerful and confident, making a strong impression on Turner.

“So I knew going in that it wasn't anything that was out of his comfort zone or anything like that. So I felt really good about my presentation and also, honestly, I've learned that you go into things confidently and people respond well to that.”

Each finalist introduced themselves, explained their philosophy, went over their mood board and each of their design options — with an emphasis that they must be able to produce it for him. Most leaned into a Western theme, him being from Texas or liking Star Wars. He’s shown that he can hit each of those notes, along with wearing a crisp, clean suit that’s a classic. He’s also not afraid to be edgy.

Kategiannis drew inspiration from the usual places: Instagram, photos and online stories. She saw a midwestern style with lots of Earth tones. But what stood out to her was his come up. And she wanted to be part of that; in fact, she told him exactly that.

“I think it's really cool that he's able to wear what he wants to wear, curate his own style and come into his own style,” she explained. “I feel like a lot of people in the spotlight don't often get to because there’s so many people pulling them so many different ways and wanting them to be so many certain ways. So I think it's really cool and authentic that Myles is able to be like, ‘No, this is what I want to do and this is what I want to wear. I'm gonna do it my way.’”

To Turner’s credit, he gave direct and detailed feedback after each presentation, offered something he liked and what he wanted to hear more of.

For example, shoes. He told the first presenter that he needs shoe options because “I can’t ever find shoes.”

Turner was at a loss for words after Kategiannis’ presentation.

“I don’t even know where to start,” he told her on the group Zoom call. “You blew me away with your presentation, to say the least. The one thing I love more than accessories is details.”

Born and raised in Australia, Kategiannis and her family moved to the United States in 2015. When she was a kid, she used to perform fashion shows for her parents and their friends when they had dinner guests. She didn’t always know that she would enter the fashion industry, but she did plan to go into a creative line of work.

“I’ve always been a creative person and very active in everything that I do, and I really want to give everything my all,” she said, as impressive as can be during this interview too. “And a really big thing for me in my future is that I never want to work a job where it feels like I'm working. I want to be excited to go into work and something that I've always loved is fashion — like all aspects of it like. Wearing it, styling it, designing it, going and looking at it with other people.”

Curating and creating for a 7-footer is no easy task. But Kategiannis felt prepared for this because she comes from a tall family, including an uncle who is 6-foot-7.

“I was able to look at it and know everything’s gonna work,” she said. There’s that confidence again. “That was definitely very helpful.”

Added Solomon: “To make a pattern for someone who is 7-foot is tough by itself. You do patterns all the time as a design student, but you’re doing it for normal-sized people.”

She also credited her professors for their help in altering patterns because, as she explained, you can’t buy commercial patterns for 7-footers. So she learned more about that and lengthening.

And along the way, she felt the warm support of her peers — which is a huge kudos to the department. In five or 10 years, they could be working together or using each other as resources. Relationships are everything and they clearly understood that.

“Everybody wanted to win,” Kategiannis said. “But since then, everybody has been so supportive of me. Everybody has given all their time to me if I needed help, all my teachers have been so supportive and all my peers have cheered me on and I think that's made such a difference.”

She also leaned on Taylor and her experience last year.

“It was so good to have someone like Emma there, who’s been through this exactly and to be a sound wall bouncing ideas off of her,” she said. “Getting her opinion on things was so helpful. She’s incredible and so driven, and I’m so grateful to be in the position that she was in last year.”

And according to Solomon, Kategiannis aced every checkpoint. She was communicative, beat all the deadlines and delivered, as promised.

“With Christi, you can see that she has a future in fashion,” said Solomon. “She can talk, she’s talented and can do a lot on the back end in terms of her skills like tech packs and other incredible things. She knows her stuff.

“She wasn’t negative about one thing throughout the whole process, wasn’t daunted one time and she ate up everything we were saying.”

After being chosen, she had three weeks to get it produced and delivered. And she got done exactly what she wanted after putting a lot of effort into sourcing fabrics and finding the colors she wanted, which wasn’t easy in Bloomington, Ind.

“This was very different and something that I had never done before,” she said. “I had never made like a pair of jeans like that before and I had never made a vest before. It was all new to me and I was really excited for the opportunity and to be able to build my skills — not only with the designs and the actual execution of the outfit, but also the professional setting of it and getting the experience in a real-world setting and having deadlines in a real-world setting that isn't just my teachers. So that was that was really cool.”

So she went with bull denim jeans (a cream color), then suede for the vest with a longhorn logo on his left side for his Texas roots. She gave him an option of not wearing a shirt under the vest so that all the attention would be on his special longhorn chain that she’s seen him wear before. That’s the item that she thought would bring it all together as the focal point of the outfit.

And according to Solomon, Kategiannis aced every checkpoint. She was communicative, beat all the deadlines and delivered, as promised.

“With Christi, you can see that she has a future in fashion,” said Solomon. “She can talk, she’s talented and can do a lot on the back end in terms of her skills like tech packs and other incredible things. She knows her stuff.

“She wasn’t negative about one thing throughout the whole process, wasn’t daunted one time and she ate up everything we were saying.”

Turner appreciated her style, taste and the investment that she made to truly understand him.

“I appreciate how you were able just to curate something for me just based off my own taste,” he said. “And your presentation was awesome. I really enjoyed following along with what you had going on.”

Kategiannis and other fashion design students had the IU fashion show last week to show off their capstone project and then an award ceremony a few days later. She finished Turner’s outfit Thursday night and delivered it on Friday, two days ahead of the game.

“I feel like this week is one of the biggest weeks of my life so far,” she said the night before. “All my hard work that I've been putting in has really been paying off and this week, I'm really seeing it and that's just so cool.”

By Sunday, she was a guest of Turner at the game. He led the Pacers with 31 points and 12 rebounds in 22 minutes as they dominated the Atlanta Hawks to clinch a playoff berth for the first time in four years.

Kategiannis saw the Pacers post Turner’s tunnel walk photo on social media with her name on it — and after the win, she and Solomon visited with Turner and took photos together in the outfit she designed, curated and created just for him.

An opportunity of a lifetime capped off by a week to remember.

And Turner enjoyed the experience just as much, telling the finalists: “Y’all gave me something to believe in. I feel like y’all really took my personal style and incorporated within y’alls craft. And it was fun to see y’alls philosophy behind everything. It wasn’t just cut and dry, everybody had their own story to why they put something together like the way they did. I appreciate y’alls intent behind this.”

Now Solomon & Co. are already looking forward to year three.

“I love this concept,” he said. “I think it’s only getting better and better. We’ll be able to do more and more every year. The main goal is to take somebody and give them an opportunity they never would have had.”