A villain from a horror film materialized inside the corridors of MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. A few hours prior to the New York Giants’ game against the Washington Redskins, a classy Jason Voorhees made an appearance to intimidate the opposition by wearing a custom Fendi mask with an all-over pattern that matched his bucket hat, jacket, and shirt. It was Halloween, but for standout receiver Odell Beckham, Jr., it was no more than any other Sunday.

How A-Cold-Wall*, a fashion label by Samuel Ross, defies classification

Ever since making an incredible one-handed catch at the end of his debut season, the highest paid wide receiver in the NFL hasn’t let the limelight drop. He constantly dons the hottest styles in menswear off the field, accessorizing with his signature bleached hair and hanging earrings. The NFL’s leading representative of millennial culture, 26-year-old Beckham, often known as OBJ, is a breath of fresh air in an often stuffy sport because of his daring and earnestness in a league that still leans older and more conservative.

In September 2018, model Halima Aden and actor Odell Beckham, Jr. attended the Calvin Klein Collection Spring-Summer 2019 show.

Nick Hunt via Getty Images United States/Getty ImagesAs Mark Leibovich incisively observed in “Big Game,” “football’s view of the collective tends to follow the military model of top-down deference to coach and, especially, owner.”Compared to owners of other sports, NFL owners typically feel more pressure to show off their position at the top of the sport.

For whatever reason, they feel compelled to reiterate the Tex Schramm adage, “You guys are cattle and we’re the ranchers’ sensibility.”Although the NFL is full of amazing athletes, Beckham has distinguished himself by rising to the status of not just one of its best players but also one of the sport’s most recognizable figures—a distinction not often seen in non-quarterback positions. Because of his relentless nature, Beckham’s every move—from putting on clothes to speaking with the media—becomes as unforgettable as his incredible feats on the field.Because of his audacity, he is frequently the subject of controversy and belongs to a select group of NFL players who can truly sell shoes.T

he ideal blend of skill and personality needed to sell sneakers is constantly being added to the NBA talent pool. In football, breaking the same ground is far more difficult. Just seventeen NFL players have been awarded their own pair of sneakers in the last thirty years.Beckham joined the likes of Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, and Randy Moss with the Nike SF AF-1 Mid “OBJ,” a tactical take on the Air Force 1 in a NYC cab coloring. A trademark sneaker is a telltale sign of success in basketball. It demonstrates your transcendence of the game in football.

Beckham watches a game between the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 27, 2019.Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

“Being popular in the NFL is such a difficult proposition,” GQ style features writer Cam Wolf said in a phone interview. “Walking down the street, he would not be able to get past crowds of people like Deandre Hopkins and Antonio Brown, who are both big fashion guys but are much more anonymous. You have to be a much more diehard fan to know what their faces look like.”

Basketball players, from bona fide stars to role players, are duking it out nightly for the most memorable outfit, turning the NBA tunnel into another runway. NFL stars only have one game a week, one regular day for high-profile displays of style. The only player taking the opportunity and running with it is Beckham. Cam Newton is equally daring, but his taste is severely misguided. Tom Brady has the biggest spotlight of all, but his muted, heritage style diverts attention instead of welcoming it.

LeBron James and Beckham attend at a party in February 2018.Johnny Nunez/Getty Images North America/Getty Images for Remy Martin

Beckham isn’t stylish in the sense of putting together disparate pieces into a cohesive, aesthetically pleasing outfit. Victor Cruz, Beckham’s former teammate and predecessor as the NFL’s style king, was much better at that. The crown’s new bearer simply knows what he likes and can afford to max out his indulgences.

Fashion today is centered on highly covetable pieces, and Beckham is aspirational style incarnate, stacking the most Instagrammable items – often all from the same collection – on top of each other. He still has room to grow but being “in the know” makes him a hot commodity.

“There’s a passion there that makes getting dressed come naturally for him,” Wolf said. “I don’t think it’s forced. He’s always dressed sort of wackily.”

Beckham sits front from at the Off-White Autumn-Winter 2018 show in March 2017.Pierre Suu/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images

Earlier in October, Beckham showed up to a game wearing a black Off-White x Nike jacket with black pants and black sneakers from the same collaboration. Was it a difficult outfit to put together? No, but it was classic Beckham. Fashion at its worst is too self-conscious and shallow; at its best, it’s about having fun and representing who you are.

“You see him, and you see a young man,” Jordan Page, the vintage archivist, stylist and brand strategist the @veryadvanced Instagram account, said over the phone. “If he weren’t in the NFL, that’s what he’d be doing. He’d probably be an Instagram influencer doing the same exact thing.”

While Beckham is a trailblazer for the NFL, his choices also signal fashion’s recent embrace of streetwear. The demand has been prevalent since at the least the ’80s, when Dapper Dan outfitted a generation of gangsters, rappers, and athletes by putting high fashion logos onto bespoke pieces more tailored for the streets. His Harlem store was shut down in the early ‘90s after the houses whose logos he pulled without authorization took notice. Fast forward to 2017, when Gucci was being called out for ripping off one of his bootleg designs, leading to an official collaboration, and the Italian house backing his own atelier.

In July 2017, Beckham and the actress Dove Cameron accepted an award at the 2017 ESPYS at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.Getty Images/Kevin Winter Americas NorthLast year, Louis Vuitton entered into a significant partnership with Supreme, a different company that had previously run afoul of the law for parodying the company’s famous monogram.

At Louis Vuitton’s price point, the collection was out of reach for the general public and catered mostly to celebrities like Beckham. At the 2017 ESPY Awards, he donned the box logo tee underneath a custom jacket and posed with his Lamborghini in both the hoodie and jeans (which he chopped off himself).

He even wore a specially designed walking boot from Supreme x Louis Vuitton while he treated his broken ankle.As seen by Louis Vuitton’s appointment of Virgil Abloh, the creator of Off-White, a close confidant of Kanye West, and the ultimate youth interpreter, as men’s artistic director, hyperbolic luxury fashion has become the standard.

His first collection, which debuted in January, features more conventional menswear items alongside streetwear mainstays like shoes, graphic tees, and hoodies. Sooner or later, you’ll see Beckham wearing one or more of the ensembles.Page stated, “This hypebeast thing is only recent.”

However, in terms of individuals who are conspicuous and seek attention, Beckham is a member of that cult. Joe Namath and Terry Bradshaw had a very infectious personality outside of football, talked slick, and donned fur coats on the sidelines.The NFL continues to lead the American professional sports leagues in terms of income and audience, but its outlook is dire. More of the league’s strong personalities need to be given more clout, or else the NBA, which is rapidly expanding, will eventually surpass it. That change has already occurred in terms of the zeitgeist.