Dwyane Wade's Dad Taught Him To Appreciate Fashion & Manicures When He Was Growing Up

Dwyane Wade may be known as Gabrielle Union’s husband and a legendary NBA star, thanks to his 16-year career with Miami Heat, but he’s also highly regarded as a style icon. He knows how to own a red carpet, he’s perfected “relaxed casual chic,” he partnered with Versace earlier this year, and he enjoys a nice manicure. So who taught him to appreciate these finer things in life? That’d be his own father, Dwyane Wade Sr.

In a new interview with Highsnobiety, Wade, 42, talked about how his father began teaching him about fashion and self-care when he was growing up in Chicago. “He was just a fly dude, and it didn’t matter if it was a sweatsuit or if it was a suit,” he said.

“My father has always been a man who would take care of himself,” Wade added. “My uncles took care of themselves. I always knew that’s what I wanted to do: I wanted to be one of them sharp-dressed men who smelled good, who stayed clean-shaved, and all that.” And he’s continued to do just that, sharing that he’s been getting manicures for over 15 years. “I’ve been getting my nails painted since 2007.”

Nowadays, with all the lessons he’s learned from his dad and uncles, Wade told Highsnobiety that he’s “all about scanning details of people, because it shows you a lot about how people care about themselves.”

Wade’s whole family loves fashion, in fact. Wade is a father of five: he shares daughter Kaavia, 5, with Union and is dad to Zaire, 22, Zaya, 16 with his ex-wife Siovaughn Funches and Xavier, 10 with Aja Metoyer. He also raised his nephew Dahveon Morris, who’s now 21, when he became his legal guardian in 2014. Wade told W Magazine that it’s “fun” that so many people in his family love fashion as much as he does and it’s one way they spend time together.

“We like to play, dress up, whatever you want,” he told the magazine. “My daughter Kaavia, she likes to play dress up — but she dresses herself. She has a certain eye. We love expressing ourselves through our fashion, and we love that we get to do it as a family. We get to go to red carpets together, we get to go to fashion shows together. We just get to dress together.”

Wade also admitted to W Magazine that his love of fashion can sometimes become a little obsessive. “I’m also obsessed with socks. I have so many pairs of socks — it is not healthy,” he said. “I did two shows today, The Today Show and Kelly Clarkson. I’m not wearing the same socks on both shows. I changed in between. If I’m able to change clothes, then I’m changing socks, too.”

At least his family always knows what to get him for Father’s Day.