THE SECOND COMING OF BASKETBALL'S HI-TOP FADE

From left: Brandon Jennings, Iman Shumpert

NBA style, like the league itself, is constantly evolving. Shorts get baggier, arms get tattoo-ier — organic reflections of the changin’ times. Every so often the pendulum of taste swings back to the past and we get throwback jerseys, say, or old school logos. But the vintage look that's currently thriving has nothing to do with apparel. It appears that the hi-top fade is experiencing a revival.

Add carom left: J.R. Reid, Kenny Walker, Charles Smith

The cut first came onto the scene in the latter third of the 1980s, scraping the ceiling in videos from Kid 'n Play, Big Daddy Kane, and, yes, even Grace Jones. The hoopsters of this era who rocked the look included Kenny "Sky" Walker, J.R. Reid, Charles Smith, and Dominique Wilkins. By the time the mid-90’s rolled around, the hi-top went the way of the short shorts, giving way to subtler fades, cornrows, or whatever Dennis Rodman was doing. It seemed to be heady days of the hi-top were over.