How Air’s costume designer nailed Nike’s ‘nerdy’ 80s look

Landing in cinemas this month comes Ben Affleck’s long-awaited Air. Kicking off the mid-1980s, the movie chronicles the story of Nike’s struggling basketball marketing division, as talent scout Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) competes with sportswear behemoths Converse and adidas to secure rising baller Michael Jordan for a new shoe deal. 

Throughout the film, CEO Phil Knight’s typewritten maxims – a mixture of business epigrams, Buddhist proverbs and proto-Kendall-Roy mantras – are used to cut between scenes, while Nike’s ad team ad-libs them on the spot.

“A shoe is just a shoe until someone steps into it,” goes the most memorable one-liner from marketing VP Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), before it’s later revised by Deloris Jordan: “A shoe is just a shoe until my son steps into it,” she asserts on a phone call with Vaccaro. Later, the team gets down to discussing whether the new shoe should lean further into form or function, and how to make it the physical embodiment of Jordan. 

This recurring theme points to the philosophy of fashion. Clothes are just clothes until we wear them, and Air is as much about the power of style as it is sport, and with sneakerheads and sportswear fanatics alike waiting with bated breath for its arrival, getting the very specific looks of the era right was no mean feat.

“[Nike was] dorky and uncool in comparison to the slickness of adidas, or the very American corporate style of Converse, or the Wall Street vibe of David Falk” – Charlese Antoinette

That task went to costume designer Charlese Antoinette. Working on an impressive ten feature films across the last two decades, she most recently created looks for Lakeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya in six-time Oscar-nominated crime drama Judas and the Black Messiah (and somehow also found the time to found the Black Designer Database in the space between). 

Early conversations with Affleck centred around Nike being a “scrappy start-up”, and how its employees were slightly behind the times in comparison to those working at the bigger, more established brands. “I wanted the clothing in the office to really reflect that nerdy 80s vibe,” explains Antoinette of the wardrobe.

“Since it’s based in Portland, I wanted it to have an outdoorsy feel, with a lot of texture and earth tones, and an emphasis on natural fibre fabrics. It’s dorky and uncool in comparison to the slickness of adidas, or the very American corporate style of Converse, or the Wall Street vibe of David Falk,” she adds. Throughout the film, gawky, gauche office wear including ill-fitting polos, shirts, and 80s tracksuits line up against smarter power suits and statement blazers, as Antoinette perfectly levels the brand’s awkwardness with its sense of ambition. 

A sneakerhead since teenagehood, the costume designer explains that working on a dream project like Air still hasn’t quite sunk in yet. We pick up the conversation here, as she talks us through her own early Jordan memories, how she sourced the film’s looks, and goofing around with Matt Damon.

“When I was a kid I worked at a sneaker store to get the discount so I could buy all the things that I wanted. My mum was a single parent, you know, and we didn't have a lot of money. When the movie trailer dropped, my mother texted me [to remind me] that I used to work at a sneaker store and now am designing for a movie about Air Jordans” – Charlese Antoinette

Hey Charlese! You're really into sneakers yourself, and a child of the 80s and 90s. Was Air a dream fit for you?

Charlese Antoinette: Absolutely, I'm still in shock about the fact that I got to do this dream job with these awesome people, even though I know I killed it and I deserve it. I grew up being part of the sneaker culture and waiting online to get Jordans. When I was a kid I worked at a sneaker store to get the discount so I could buy all the things that I wanted. My mum was a single parent, you know, and we didn't have a lot of money. When the movie trailer dropped, my mother texted me [to remind me] that I used to work at a sneaker store and now am designing for a movie about Air Jordans. It’s really cool.

How did you go about sourcing the different clothes?

Charlese Antoinette: It was a mix of reputable dealers that I work with, sourcing things on eBay, and buying things that are contemporary but are really styles that Nike has been selling since the early 80s. It’s cool because there’s even a year written on the shoes, so that was really helpful. We didn't actually feature much Nike gear in the movie. 

How did you create the prototypes for the shoes?

Charlese Antoinette: The prop master oversaw all of that and they were built by a local company that has all the patterns for all the sneakers. They were actually at the premiere, and they had a set-up. That was really cool. They were remade, because although the style is still around, those [original] colorways and the Jordan prototypes had to be recreated by this company. 

Near the start of the film, Sonny gets told that “there’s nothing cool about Nike”. How did you reflect that lack of style through the office clothing?

Charlese Antoinette: The early conversations Ben and I had about Nike as a company was about them being a scrappy start-up. Since it's based in Portland, I wanted to have an outdoorsy feel, with a lot of texture and earthtones and an emphasis on using wools and natural fibre fabrics. It’s dorky and uncool in comparison to the slickness of adidas, or the very American corporate style of Converse, or the Wall Street vibe of David Falk. It’s just meant to feel behind the times and I wanted the clothing in that office to really reflect that nerdy eighties vibe. Before, we’d started getting into more techie fabrics and brighter colours and bigger shoulders, and there are moments when we have some of that with Phil Knight and his tracksuits. But other than that, it needed to feel scrappy.

“The only person who's really put together in the office is Chris Tucker’s character. He’s a sharp guy. If you come from the Black community, being sharp is a big thing, and specifically as [someone in] an executive position as a Black person, you’re dressed sharp, so it was very important that Howard was like that and independent of what everyone else was doing” – Charlese Antoinette

How did you balance this with some of the smarter moments? 

Charlese Antoinette: Chris Messina’s character (sports agent David Falk) has really got that, with his Armani suits in strong trapezoid shapes. Then, the only person who's really put together in the office is Chris Tucker’s character Howard White (vice president of Jordan), he’s a sharp guy. If you come from the Black community, being sharp is a big thing, and specifically as [someone in] an executive position as a Black person, you’re dressed sharp, so it was very important that Howard was like that and independent of what everyone else was doing. Like in that scene when they’re in the office on a Sunday and everybody else is casual, he looked like he came to church.

Some of the best outfits, for me, come from Deloris Jordan. I love how she’s power-dressed to the max for the business meetings, owning the boardroom.

Charlese Antoinette: I definitely wanted to have her in suiting because if you look at photos of her during that time, she worked at a bank as an executive. It was very true to who I felt she was, through my research. And then knowing about the Black community, and respectability politics is that you're not going to this high level corporation on a business meeting and represent your son who's an athlete and not going to be in a power suit. Like, you're showing up because you're the one brokering this deal and negotiating because you're the one that has the knowledge. The fact that she works at a bank is how she came up with the fact that her son, Michael Jordan, needed to be getting residuals. I just really wanted to reflect this in her dress, that she needs to be taken seriously in this meeting.

What was it like dressing Matt Damon? Sonny’s polos are properly dadcore.

Charlese Antoinette: For Sonny, a polo is dressing up. If you see him at home or when he's scouting at the basketball game at the beginning, he needs to come across as a really approachable high school basketball coach, that was his vibe. So for him, going to Nike every day in that Members Only jacket and that polo was like his suit and tie and being dressed up. So that’s why you always see him in polos and repeating because this is as formal as it gets for him. The real funny thing is, I think Matt went to the premiere in a crewneck sweat, he doesn't dress up. He also came on set with his wife, and they were just freaking out – she asked if I had raided his closet and he changed a few times on set. It was really sweet.

Rob’s Hawaiian shirt halfway through the film really stands out, too.

Charlese Antoinette: In all the [archive] images, Rob is really not a put together guy. He’d be in a collared shirt, but it was a very relaxed vibe. And there were some images of him in Hawaiian shirts. And I was just like, ‘Oh my God, this is perfect’, because I wanted to show weekend looks on these guys, like running gear and track jackets, and then Rob in his Hawaiian shirt. It used to be a decision that people made; now, I feel like we can kind of wear the same thing every day of the week. You can't tell when you look at someone what day of the week it is. Of course, it’s not the case with a lawyer wearing a suit everyday, but for the most part, we just kind of go to work and do whatever.

“I have to make characters of people but it has to feel real and natural. They have to embody the clothing rather than the clothing overshadow them and their performance. So it’s a really delicate balance” – Charlese Antoinette

The film has a running commentary on the power dynamic between the clothing and the person who’s clothed. Is this something you considered?

Charlese Antoinette: I have to make characters of people but it has to feel real and natural. They have to embody the clothing rather than the clothing overshadow them and their performance. So it’s a really delicate balance and I think this has a direct tie to this form and function conversation, because I can design the coolest, most elaborate thing but it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work for the actor or the scene. We’ve all watched things where the clothes really overpower the person even when you think they should pull it off. A huge part of what I do is figuring out that balance.