FIVE HOURS BEFORE he walks the red carpet at the year’s biggest night in fashion, Saquon Barkley looks at himself in the mirror as stylists from designer Thom Browne dress him for the evening. The windows in his suite showcase the cityscape, featuring older buildings that are flanked by even taller structures, but the entrance at the Upper East Side hotel is across the street from Central Park, where the majestic oval that surrounds Fifth Avenue can seem otherworldly to an out-of-towner.
As Rod Wave’s crooning voice on the song “Bachelor” plays in the suite, the 28-year-old Barkley sings along, eager to put on his new threads, which are so dynamic that he is impressed when he looks at himself. It’s the feeling of being a boy getting ready for picture day at school that creeps up on a man on a night like this; he’s relieved by how confident he feels. He first became enamored by the fashion world when he signed with Nike at 21, but as he nears the age of 30, his style has both evolved and matured. He jokingly says he doesn’t want to talk about his 2019 Met Gala look — in hindsight, maybe his suit shorts weren’t the best choice — and this year, he’s going for something more traditional, safer, timeless. He looks sleek, appropriate enough to pitch a cereal ad on Madison Avenue.
Barkley has a lot to feel good about in 2025, even off the gridiron. He’s wearing a $82,500 watch courtesy of the Swiss company H. Moser & Cie. The man is a perfectionist and practices the pronunciation of Moser, along with all its specs, until he gets it completely right. On H. Moser’s website, they describe the loud black color that fills the watch’s face as the “epitome of less is more.” That is doubly so for the three-piece tuxedo that the Philadelphia Eagles star is wearing. It’s jet black; the pants have four buttons instead of a zipper, and the tailoring — his pants stop slightly above his ankles — allows you to see the $150 socks with Thom Browne’s signature triple stripes.
There’s a nostalgic bent to what Barkley is wearing. The theme for this year’s Met Gala is Black dandyism (officially called “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”), which gained mainstream popularity during the Harlem Renaissance. Barkley looks like a member of the Rat Pack: It’s a traditional but chic look that would not be out of place at a residency in Vegas. Sammy Davis Jr. would be proud. “The style shaped the person I am becoming: clean and cut. I still pop off with some streetwear, but I like things tailored for me,” Barkley explains as we sit across from each other in the den of his suite.
There’s a mix of people here, but it’s surprisingly lowkey for an athlete of Barkley’s stardom. There’s our camera crew, his personal photographer, stylists with both Thom Browne and H. Moser, as well as his stylist, Joshua “Lesus” McPhearson, who was Barkley’s teammate at Penn State. Someone jokes about the fit being snug because it was made for him; Barkley laughs: “I feel like I am doing it the right way this time,” he says. He likes that the Gala has people of different vocations, different walks of life, all gathered together for a charitable event that celebrates fashion through grandiose celebrity. He quotes Deion Sanders from his Atlanta Braves tenure: “Like Deion said, it’s all about how you feel. ‘If you look good, you feel good, you play good,’ and fashion is similar. You go to a look that you love and feel comfortable with, so you can go out there and be you.” Barkley sings, even though there isn’t any music playing. “Oh me, oh me, oh my,” Barkley whispers, imitating Drake’s flow on his lost verse from “All Me.”
Before Barkley ventures to the second floor to take more pictures with Thom Browne photographers and social media coordinators — his suite is on the seventh floor — everyone is gathered in the brown-colored, retro hallways waiting to go down the elevator. Celebrities who are also attending the Gala walk down from their suites. “Severance” actor Tramell Tillman walks in with striped pants and a black tailcoat that is so long that an assistant has to hold it, and he nods towards me. I nod back. “You look dummy,” I say as a genuine compliment. Tillman responds, “I do? Thank you.” His humility is confounding.
The charm of this night is that even some of the biggest celebrities are surprised by how regal they look. Walton Goggins, one of the greatest character actors on the planet — to the point that he is becoming too famous to be considered a character actor — flamboyantly walks the hallways in an inside-out suit and kilt (a signature for the American designer) also designed by Thom Browne. Goggins, a stupendously charming man, walks in with a wide, devilish smile. I can’t help it, my movie fandom kicks in like a Spidey sense, and I holler, “No, no, no, you done got me talking politics, I’m just happy to be alive,” mimicking Goggins’ charming and villainous character in Quentin Tarantino’s whodunit, “The Hateful Eight.” Goggins quickly and exuberantly shouts it back, before dapping me up, appreciative of the niche fandom that exists beyond his more recent, wildly popular television roles. “Where’s the party at tonight?” Goggins asks, almost encouraging us to tell him what he already knows. “I think Pharrell’s party,” my editor Justin Bey tells him. They exchange Uno strategies for the event. Meanwhile, Barkley is in his suite, dialed in, awaiting his turn in the hallway. In those moments, it is very easy to understand why the Met Gala has a hold on every precocious enjoyer of pop culture. Celebrities are not to be put on a pedestal, but they do have the capacity to embolden our spirit and fulfill our desire for opulence.
BARKLEY WALKS WITH a smooth, cocksure pose all the way from his suite to where a production team takes artsy photos of him in a Victorian-style dining hall. Chandeliers light the room; the design on the rug is something of an exploded leaf, but even that is underselling it. He does a Captain Morgan pose on the step where the shoot is happening. There is a fake green door that Barkley pretends to answer as a woman tells him how good of an actor he is. She assures him, pushing him to continue. The preparation for being a guest at the Met Gala seems boring and mentally taxing, as cameras snap over and over again, making that scorched screech sound, trying to find the best way to show off Barkley’s threads.
Someone as successful as Barkley knows when they are being buttered up, and these are the foggy moments when you’re doing a photoshoot with someone who is trying to encourage you because they have a job to do. Barkley bashfully smiles when she suggests that he is doing a good job of acting. After all, there is no pretending on the football field, when you are flying through an open zone that your offensive line created for you while defenders are trying to press your chest to the grass. You can only go all out when you’re on the gridiron; no amount of designer threads can make Barkley forget that the true job of a football player is to be as earnest as possible on the field.
It can feel fantastical to discuss Barkley’s first season with the Eagles because of how remarkable it was. It’s the kind of year that NFL Films will have a special, behind-the-scenes documentary about. Barkley set career highs and broke Philly’s rushing record. If you include his postseason statistics, he broke Terrell Davis’ single-season record for yards from scrimmage (2,857). He averaged 125.3 yards per game in the regular season and rushed for over 200 yards in the divisional round against the Los Angeles Rams. It all felt defiant; he took the New York Giants’ decision to let him test the open market so personally that he turned it into the greatest rushing season of all time. He blew up pettiness into a technicolor extreme, the way Michael Jordan — someone whom Barkley studies and looks up to — would have, nurturing his inner strength.
The Eagles trounced the Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. The clock hitting zero to signify the win was merely a formality. It felt like the game was decided the first time Mahomes was knocked on his behind. “For us, we were lucky. It was a pretty good game for the defense,” Barkley says with a smile. “When the confetti fell down, it was everything I dreamed about when I was a little kid, so it was cool.”
The Philadelphia Eagles, led by Barkley and company, are alarmingly confident. Two of his teammates, wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, have even said they felt oddly unfulfilled by winning the Lombardi trophy. It is the hunt — and not winning the title itself — that makes their blood flow freely. Barkley slightly beams when I ask if he agrees with them. He understands what they mean, without downplaying how much the accomplishment means to him. As a child, he woke up in cold sweats dreaming about winning the Super Bowl. Now, he knows that all glory is fleeting, and you are immediately back to the foot fires and cone cuts of training camp.
He also accomplished one of the most creative and viral highlights in recent memory, with his backward hurdle of a defender. Next season, he’s hoping to top it and will likely obey his mother’s request for him to retire the move. He hasn’t had a chance to practice it yet, but he has his sights on a spin move.
“How can I adapt the spin?” Barkley explains. “It was a 180 move, so it would be cool if I could do a full 360.” He sees it clearly in his head, but it has to be the right time for it, and the move has to be perfected so that when it hits, it looks like something only Superman can do. In his hunger for another way to stay above his competition and help the Eagles become a new dynasty, Barkley lives in the sweet spot between preparation and divine greatness. Tiger Woods and his dominant run of four Grand Slam championships in 2000 is a burning inspiration for him: a lodestar, if you will. And Barkley is eloquent when talking about Woods. “I don’t know if any individual had a season like that, but in 1999, he had an amazing season, too.” Barkley adds, “It’s about how he was able to stack the years.”
The Eagles were so dominant this past season that the NFL has considered a rule change: banning their famous tush push. The petition was started by the Green Bay Packers, perhaps sour grapes from losing to the Eagles in the NFC Wild Card Game. A devastatingly effective move, the tush push has helped turn the Eagles into brutal champions, far from being underdogs. Barkley is put off at the controversy that the play has started, and like a father who believes in tough love, he tells the rest of the league to toughen up. “If you don’t like it, get better at stopping it,” Barkley says. “It’s not like a play that we only do. Everyone tries it, we’re just super successful at it.” An air of competitive arrogance lingers when he finishes the sentences. Such moments let you in on what this Eagles team has the potential to become. The team is so stacked offensively that during the 2025 NFL Draft, they drafted five consecutive defensive players. This is what dominance looks like.
THE FASHION SPACE can be competitive, but not to Barkley, someone who does not put on clothes to compare himself to his peers. Questions about who is the best on the team at fashion don’t interest him; he claims he doesn’t do this for other people. No, his main supporter among his peers is Tyrod Taylor, who has the kind of style that he wants to emulate: regal and traditional. Both on the field and off of it, Taylor remains a veteran presence for Barkley. Oftentimes, Barkley will talk to Taylor, who has played 14 NFL seasons, and get his read on things, a helping hand for a guy trying to learn more about what clothes can best represent him. He’s taking small steps to do that in his personal life. Men are typically wired to want to do everything on their own, but he’s allowing himself the grace of being OK with asking for help, whether it’s from his friends, his parents, or his finaceé. “I feel like when you’re able to let loose and let go, you don’t feel like you are trying to control everything in your life,” Barkley explains. “It’s really helpful for me, and it’s still stuff I can continue to improve on.”
McPhearson, Barkley’s stylist, has worked with him since 2021 when the running back called for help with a DoorDash ad. After the ad, they had to shoot more commercials throughout that week. They never bonded over clothes as teammates in Happy Valley — they were too busy grinding and surviving long practices. Still, after their friendship rekindled, a partnership blossomed, and McPhearson has been at Barkley’s side ever since. “My main goal is to make Saquon comfortable,” McPhearson says. “If you’re comfortable, and you feel good in what you wear, you can always elevate yourself from there.”
As Barkley walks out of the hotel, McPhearson is beside him, ready for the night of adventure that awaits them. The rain is coming down hard, but the SUV is there, waiting to take the guys eighteen blocks uptown. It’s about 6 p.m., and the sun is up; the air is moist. Paparazzi snap photos; one is muttering about not being able to see Barkley because of people blocking his view. So many thoughts run through my mind, about the nature of celebrity, about the excellence that Barkley has achieved, allowing him to inhabit a world that is bigger than Coplay, Pennsylvania, the town he eventually settled in after his family moved out of The Bronx. It’s a world that now includes President Trump, with whom Barkley hopes to play another round of golf, he recently said. But for now, he is here, just here, standing in the rain. The pictures end, and he is rushing into the SUV, ready for a night of glamour before grass-stained cleats and a referee’s whistle await him this fall.
