Meet the stylists behind WNBA’s fashion rise

Several WNBA athletes have entered the luxury sphere this year after long going overlooked. Take Cameron Brink, for instance: as she was drafted to the Los Angeles Sparks in spring, the Stanford graduate wore a two-tone Balmain gown styled by Mary Gonsalves Kinney, who began working with Brink while she was still playing at collegiate level. “She didn’t have the sort of name recognition she clearly has now,” Kinney says, explaining that in the early days of their partnership, Brink did not consider her potential in the world of fashion.

Initially, getting brands to work with Brink took persuasion while leveraging the contacts Kinney had acquired across her career. “[PRs] don’t always get it. And they’ll say no,” she tells Vogue Business. Therefore, for the 2022 ESPY Awards, Brink purchased her own Saint Laurent gown. “If you start wearing luxury, you set the bar really high,” says Kinney. “When you do become a household name, these brands are going to be jumping to dress you because they see how well you wear their clothing.” As Brink’s talent on the court brought her fame, brands were more willing to dress her for the draft, where she was certain to secure a spot. “We had probably 10 different luxury designers in the wings.”

Authentic relationships are key to successfully integrating fashion in the WNBA, believes Jacobi. “It’s not about just putting people in clothes,” she says, going on to explain that luxury houses can look down upon purely transactional connections. “They care about the individuality, they care about perception, and they care about how the talent treats the brand.” In her opinion, the relationship between brand and athlete can also be influenced by the player’s social media engagement. “When you send in a name to a brand, and they see a following, that’s the first thing they notice,” Jacobi says. While numbers are important to some brands, others may prefer a less well-known figure to avoid oversaturation. “You always want to make sure to either be the athlete’s first or be the only thing that they’re doing in that space.”

Veteran basketball stylist Courtney Mays has worked with four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart for several years. “Being [Bird’s] stylist through her last season in the WNBA — and knowing that she is probably one of the greatest of all time in her field — is monumental,” says Mays, who explains that her wider role as a stylist is to help identify athletes for business opportunities within the fashion industry. “I’m not just getting your look; I’m building relationships with brands and encouraging the idea of athletes as marketable people for other companies.”