LeBron James had a visceral reaction to his wife Savannah James’ arrival in a Sergio Hudson mermaid dress at Vanity Fair’s Oscar night party on Sunday in Los Angeles: “GOT DAMNNNNNN!”
The NBA superstar’s comment went viral — with 1.7 million likes on a photo posted to his Instagram page.
“This is gonna be a first, one of our first big major carpets,” her stylist Casey “Icon” Billingsley told WWD ahead of the star-studded party, teasing the white-hot look. “I’m so elated because we get to work with a Black designer.
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“These are the moments that I feel will propel her even further into the stratosphere.”
James and Icon have been an in-sync pair since 2021, when they were connected through mutual friends. She adds to his growing client roster, which includes actresses Novi Brown, Amber Riley and Coco Jones.
“It’s one thing to get with a starlet, someone who’s famous and wants to change up their style or introduce themselves to a new audience, but this was something that was all-around different,” he said.
The duo has delivered and curated an array of different looks, including her standout Schiaparelli pinstripe suit moment at LeBron’s record-breaking NBA game on Feb. 7, when he became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
“When I first started working with her it was like she was literally taking steps out of her cocoon,” Icon said.
In putting together the outfit for the historic game, Icon and James actually didn’t solidify anything in advance. “She didn’t know what LeBron was wearing earlier in the day. By the time I got to the house, LeBron had already shown up to Crypto [Arena] and the images of what he had on started circulating,” Icon said, adding that LeBron wore all-black.
When James asked Icon if she should wear all-black to coordinate with her husband, he responded, “’He’s having his moment tonight. Let’s not bleed into him. You need to have your own moment tonight as well. The cameras are going to be on you, everyone is focusing on the entire family and you’re the matriarch.’
“As she left the house, the staff was clapping because it was so stunning,” Icon later added, saying that, to this day, James’ game-day outfit is the most-liked post on his Instagram.
Her other standout style moment was during Milan Fashion Week, where LeBron took to his Instagram again to shoutout to his wife: “OK now you just showing out,” part of LeBron’s caption read under a photo of his wife on Feb. 25. It received more than 27,000 likes.
Donning an all-lace black catsuit, James took to her 2 million followers on Instagram to showcase her making the rounds in February throughout Europe, attending a number of fashion week events.
Icon told WWD that he wanted the socialite to “have some fun” with the look. He mentioned that part of why things work so well with James is because she is open to trying new things.
“Hitting the scene, doing carpets and taking these bold choices was a seed that I’ve been watering over time,” he said. “As of recently, it’s really blossoming and she’s getting the hang of what all of this means and how she’s being inserted into the conversation from a fashion perspective.”