Stars and stripes

It was the fashion question that Central Floridians, perched on the edge of their unfinished Orlando Arena seats, undoubtedly had been asking for months. Would the Orlando Magic do for basketball uniforms what Florence Griffith- Joyner did for track attire? Would mayor-turned-model Bill Frederick do for a Magic uniform what Christie Brinkley did for bathing suits? Would the team's uniforms turn the National Basketball Association on its ear?

In a word, no.

But the Magic's management, stealing a page from the New York Yankees' book, proudly unveiled its own fashion statement Friday: the NBA's first pin- striped uniforms.

It wasn't an Earth-shattering fashion statement -- not as daring as the Charlotte Hornets' decision to use designer Alexander Julian's teal uniform with a V-necked jersey and pleated playing shorts with azalea pink accents -- but the Magic design team wasn't beyond bragging.

"I really feel, with the time dedicated toward the design and detail of this project, we have come up with what will be the best- looking uniform in the NBA," said Doug Minear, president of The Advertising Works, the Orlando advertising agency that designed the uniforms.

Minear spent 1 1/2 years on the project, discarding at least six plans before deciding on the black uniforms with white pin stripes for away games and the white uniforms with black pin stripes for home games. Both uniforms have blue borders around the neck, sleeves and bottom of the shorts, with the Magic's silver star on the shorts' outer seams.

"We were trying to come up with something that said Orlando, and we thought of the dress-for-success look and came up with pinstripes," Minear said. "We went with black as a base color because 16 teams in the league use blue as their base. And psychologically, teams that wear black are the most intimidating -- like the Oakland Raiders. Of course, they're also the most penalized."

The away uniforms have the word Orlando emblazoned across the chest, though the home jerseys will use only the Magic logo. While half the NBA teams still use their city name on away uniforms, the Celtics and others have begun to use only the team name on all jerseys. Magic management plans to wait a few years to see how many teams follow that lead before making a decision to go with just Magic.

Minear and his troops were so picky about the design that, unsatisfied with the blue dyes available, MacGregor, a sporting goods manufacturer, had an electric-blue shade created for the Magic's uniforms.

Likewise, because pin stripes couldn't be reproduced on the mesh nylon material used by many NBA teams and because the Magic coaches hated the scratchy feel of the poly-stretch knit used by the other NBA teams, Minear dug into a pile of old uniforms at the MacGregor plant in search of something better. He came up with Durene, a material that has cotton on the underside and polyester bonded on the outside.

General manager Pat Williams thought the months of trial and error were worth it, and the season ticket holders present seemed to agree.

"The uniforms are really sharp-looking. I think they did a great job," said Beverly Mason, one of the 200 who paid $20 for lunch at the Omni. And what about the models -- Frederick, Williams, coach Matt Guokas and former Harlem Globetrotter Curly Neal?