Inside Saquon Barkley's night at the Met Gala - ESPN

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 show the cityscape — green, retro structures that are flanked by even taller buildings, 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