What started as an NBA tradition (think LeBron James in his infamous Thom Browne short suit <\/a>and alligator skin bag) has already spilled over into the NFL (cue Travis Kelce\u2019s disco chic for the Super Bowl<\/a>). Now the WNBA is following suit.<\/p>\n As the league grows in popularity \u2014 and adds new teams<\/a> \u2014 so has interest in what Caitlin Clark and DiJonai Carrington are wearing on their way into the game. WNBA tunnel fits<\/a> are all over social media. And while some might find the focus on fashion superficial, women\u2019s sports fans and analysts like Shanteona Keys<\/a>, a sports reporter and host of the sports and pop culture podcast Genuinely Curious<\/a>, feel otherwise. She argues that players aren\u2019t just showing off their designer labels and towering heels, they\u2019re expressing their true personalities in a sport that has been unsung for so long.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of these players were not able to showcase who they were,\u201d Keys tells Yahoo. \u201cThe league tried to put them in a box where they had to dress a certain way and present a certain way, typically feminine, to attract the all-American fan. Getting to see who these players are in their regular life, in their streetwear, just adds a level of personality, which I think is valuable in women’s sports in general.\u201d<\/p>\n The WNBA\u2019s record-setting viewership<\/a> in 2024, fueled by the arrival of high-profile rookies like Clark, Reese and Cameron Brink, has only increased public interest in players\u2019 lives off the court. And fashion is a key part of that.<\/p>\n \u201cSocial media mixed with NIL<\/a> [name, image and likeness laws that allow collegiate players to profit off of their personal brand] has completely revolutionized the game,\u201d Keys explains. \u201cEven 20 years ago, people knew what LeBron [James] was eating for breakfast. \u2026 Women athletes didn\u2019t get that level of coverage. Fashion is one of the few things that fills in that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n Dressing for themselves<\/strong><\/p>\n The current tunnel fits \u2014 from Jaylyn Sherrod\u2019s custom-printed denim suit <\/a>to Napheesa Collier\u2019s ab-baring top paired with baggy black shorts and a Coach bag<\/a> \u2014 hit the three Ds: daring, diverse and designer. They\u2019re also a far cry from the more conservative dress code WNBA players were previously expected to follow.<\/p>\n According to women\u2019s sports researcher Risa Isard<\/a>, women athletes struggled to express themselves through their dress thanks to league expectations and constraints. (Similarly, NBA players faced pressure to clean up their image and relied on business-casual attire to do so.)<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a lot of stigma and fear and some directives on how to present yourself,\u201d Isard tells Yahoo. \u201cThat was largely in a way that would be quote-unquote nonthreatening and traditionally feminine.\u201d<\/p>\n Former WNBA star Sue Bird has talked about the evolution of the league\u2019s attire<\/a>, sharing that early marketing was focused on \u201cpushing the feminine side of players,\u201d herself included. The recently retired Diana Taurasi has also shared<\/a> that the league\u2019s dress code required athletes to wear slacks, penny loafers and button-ups while on the road.<\/p>\n Diana Taurasi accepted the Best Female Athlete Award at the 2004 ESPYs wearing a pink suit with a black lacy bra \u2014 vastly different from her tomboyish style today. (Carlo Allegri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cYou had these young, really athletic women, but they sort of looked like corporate vice presidents in their 30s with their business-casual dress,\u201d says writer and avid basketball fan Summer McDonald<\/a>. \u201cThe rules are loosened 1751883791, but players also seem to take this as a moment and opportunity to express themselves individually through fashion and declare style.\u201d<\/p>\n In the process, players like New York Liberty\u2019s Breanna Stewart<\/a>, who is partial to oversized pieces that mix masculine and feminine elements, are giving fans a chance to know them better.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat’s so exciting to me about the tunnel fits today is that they do represent such a wide gamut of expression,\u201d Isard says. \u201cThey are wholly authentic to each WNBA player, and there is space to be creative.\u201d<\/p>\n Building a brand, one knee-high boot at a time<\/strong><\/p>\n For a lot of players, WNBA draft night, when teams announce which players will be joining their teams, marks a huge shift, both for their careers and their fashion game. It\u2019s where you\u2019ll see Caitlin Clark stepping out in Prada<\/a>, not a jersey or sweats, or Paige Bueckers changing from a Coach suit to one by Louis Vuitton.<\/a> These outfits are a signal that they\u2019re ready for the big leagues \u2014 and they\u2019re worth the luxury labels they\u2019re wearing.<\/p>\n That\u2019s largely due to the brand deals the NIL has afforded them, given the lackluster WNBA salaries they\u2019re making<\/a>. It\u2019s a symbiotic relationship: Establishing their personal brand through fashion (a sexy corset top, designer sneakers, boxy statement suits) helps players build their social media following, which in turn attracts sponsorship deals and brings in the funds to finance these runway-ready looks (and the stylists, makeup artists, nail techs etc.) that come with it.<\/p>\n Veteran players are getting in on the action too. Keys points to players like A\u2019ja Wilson<\/a>, Kelsey Mitchell<\/a> and Sabrina Ionescu<\/a>, who have gone full seasons showing up to games in sweats or a T-shirt with jeans, sans judgment. Each has since hired a stylist within the last few years to lean into the excitement that comes with showing up and out in the tunnel.<\/p>\n Stewart, meanwhile, has become a blueprint for the kind of exposure that making a style investment can bring. In 2023, the power forward teamed up with stylist Courtney Mays<\/a>. Fashion shoots with Esquire<\/a> and Women\u2019s Wear Daily<\/a>\u00a0soon followed, paving the way for Stewart to score a Met Gala invite<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n Chicago Sky forward and new Met Gala mainstay Angel Reese<\/a> \u2014 who frequently posts pics of her tunnel fits<\/a> (Louis Vuitton bags, track suits worn with heels, etc.) for her 5 million Instagram followers to see \u2014 landed a Vogue cover<\/a> in her rookie year. The cover line: \u201cIt\u2019s always been both: basketball and fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[Players] are now presented with this opportunity or even need to brand themselves through fashion in a way that they didn’t really have to think about before,\u201d says Keys. \u201cEven if you’re not trying to get a fashion brand deal or a partnership, the way that those glossy photos come across on your grid is valuable just to your brand as a women’s athlete, getting people to follow you and wanting to know your story.\u201d<\/p>\n More attention, more scrutiny<\/strong><\/p>\n The growing attention on the WNBA has ushered in a lot of praise. Michelle Manno<\/a>, a sociologist, associate provost for community enrichment at Northwestern University and the author of Denied: Women, Sports and the Contradictions of Identity<\/a>, points out that it can also expose players to more intense scrutiny. Reese has been subjected to critics’ sexualizing her outfits and body, and deactivated her Instagram<\/a> in response to comments about one New Year\u2019s Eve outfit. Keys adds that a video of her critiquing Clark\u2019s style direction<\/a> quickly became her most viral WNBA fashion video to date.<\/p>\n \u201cWomen are always being judged by their attractiveness, no matter their circumstance or situation,\u201d Manno tells Yahoo. \u201cWe expect women athletes to present themselves as equal parts athletic and feminine<\/a>, which is another way of saying attractive or sexy.\u201d<\/p>\n Right now, the criticism is mostly aimed at the most popular players. \u201cClark reaches a mass audience, so that requires mass audience expectations,\u201d says Keys. But it\u2019s far outweighed by the larger conversation around her game. \u201cFor a lot of women\u2019s sports fans, these conversations about fashion are just an added bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Diana](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/096cb390-5842-11f0-95e7-6095bb51dc93.jpeg\"\/)
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