Knicks' Frazier has a passion for fashion

They were a New York couple made for one another: a tailor who specializes in custom suits for famous athletes and the most inimitable suit-wearing athlete in the city's history.

But when Walt "Clyde'' Frazier first knocked on Mohan "Mike'' Ramchandani's door, the latter had no idea who he was.

"He started to look at fabric; he said, 'Do you know who I am?' '' Ramchandani recalled. "I said, 'No.' He said, 'I'm Walt Frazier. I won the championship in '69.' He showed me his ring.''

Recalling the moment, Frazier laughed. "He looked at me like, 'Who is this guy?' I said, 'I'm the Clyde!' ''

That was 21 years ago.

Ramchandani still is not a big basketball fan; he has attended only one Knicks game. But he and Frazier have partnered to extend Clyde's decades-old reputation for flamboyant attire.

Frazier, 65, is working with Ramchandani and his colleagues at Mohan's Custom Tailors to step up his game. Doing so understandably required some shock value.

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It began early last month when the MSG analyst unveiled an all-timer in the pattern of a cow hide for a Knicks-Spurs game at the Garden, then a leopard-themed number for the Lakers in L.A.

Why the sudden turn? "I'm kind of more creative now in my designs,'' Frazier said. "I've found I can match colors better. It's a gift I've improved upon somehow.''

Frazier saves his best material (literally) for the biggest stages. He timed his next splash to the Lakers' visit to the Garden tonight.

At Mohan's last week, sales manager K.J. Singh brought out the two suits in contention for the honor, one that looked like a tiger and another with darker stripes. On Tuesday, Frazier announced his decision: The tiger it is.

Frazier has been answering reporters' questions about his clothes for 44 years, but he still has a sense of humor and a seriousness of purpose about it.

This is no lark. He studies women's magazines for ideas.

"I take the pictures to them and we alter it to make it for a man,'' he said. "I never get GQ or any of those magazines. I don't find anything in there.''

Frazier found the cow, leopard and tiger patterns on the same day, when he was at Zarin on the Lower East Side, looking for furniture fabrics for his property in St. Croix.

Yup, the suits are made of thick material designed for couches, not clothing.

"This fabric he brought in, it's made for upholstery,'' Singh said. "He said, 'I bought this; why don't I make a suit?' ''

Even by Frazier's standards, the cow motif was a stunner. He decided not to wear the pants for the unveiling, only the jacket.

"I asked him about the cow one: 'Are you really going to wear this?' '' Ramchandani said.

Said Singh: "It doesn't look good on the hanger, but it looks good on him.''

Said Frazier, "When I first saw it, I went, 'Holy cow!' Holy cow is right.''

Many viewers feared Frazier had used real animal skins. "My girlfriend showed me the things on the Internet,'' he said. "Man, it was hilarious. I never expected that reaction.''

Singh said the suits are "a blend of wool and cotton. It's like velvet, but not exactly velvet.''

Ramchandani, a native of India, is one of seven brothers in the clothing business. His first sports customer was then-collegian Patrick Ewing in 1982; they met through mutual acquaintances.

Soon he was building a clientele that has included Willis Reed, Charles Oakley, the late Manute Bol, Bernie Williams and Jose Reyes.

Many athletes get free suits in exchange for being used in Mohan's ads. Frazier pays, but he said he gets a discount off prices that otherwise would run $2,500 to $3,000 per suit.

Mohan's also provides him with custom shirts, sometimes dozens at a time. He gets his ties custom-made elsewhere.

The "closet'' in his Manhattan apartment actually is an entire room, complete with a mannequin for testing color combinations. And dozens of suits, past and present.

The Knicks' improved play has served as an inspiration this season. "The team started winning and all of a sudden I was Clyde again,'' he said. "There's a little glamour to it, the pizzazz, the sellouts.''

Frazier discussed all this while sitting courtside last week wearing sting ray skin boots. "These are the most conservative boots I have,'' he said.

Frazier's 1974 book, "Rockin' Steady: A Guide to Basketball & Cool,'' recently was reissued into a world that has changed radically. But Clyde hasn't.

He does not weigh much more than he did as a player - he was listed at 6-4, 200 - and he has not altered his fashion sense.

"The only thing I don't act my age in,'' he said, "is how I dress.''