COVER LOOKIts always been both: basketballandfashion, says WNBA starand emerging fashion iconAngel Reese in a Versace dress.
Photographed by Norman Jean Roy.
Styled by Julia Sarr-Jamois.Vogue, Winter 2025.
GOLD STANDARDReese begins her sophomore season with the Chicago Sky in May. Stella McCartney dress. Femme La shoes. Fashion Editor: Julia Sarr-Jamois.
No more synchronized diving.
No more twirling shot-putters or pole-vaulters flying backward through the air.
Farewell to the impassive, agile grapplers, and to the whiplash pleasure of a badminton rally.
TRIPLE THREATReese in a Loewe coat and Éterne bodysuit. Brother Vellies shoes.
How many days until the US Open?
Could I make it until then?
I guess everyones been sports-pilled.
CHICAGO FIREReese in a Jacquemus suit. Stella McCartney shoes.
Because, wow, the Open was asceneTaylor Swift, Kendall Jenner, movie stars, and influencers everywhere.
I even spotted dapper fencer Miles Chamley-Watson at Fendi.
So this isnt just about tennis.
COURT ACELast year’s US Open semifinalist Frances Tiafoe makes a point of attending New York Fashion Week. “If I’m in the city I’m notnotgoing.” Dunhill coat. Levi’s jeans. Dolce & Gabbana hat. Fashion Editor: Mobolaji Dawodu.
Butreturning for a moment to the US Openconsider the destiny of the two men who played the final.
It was held on a basketball court.
Womens US Open champ Aryna Sabalenka and Olympic gymnast Suni Lee were there too.
Since time immemorial, there has been Sport, and there has been Fashion.
They call it sportswear for a reason.
And it is likewise true that there have always been individual athletes with loads of style.
STRING THEORYOn court, Tiafoe favors clothes that match his playing style: “Loud colors, bold colors, stuff that pops.” Tom Ford suit and shirt.
Other pieces are custom-made.
His wardrobe, he says, has basically taken over his house.
In the locker room, he and his teammates chat about their tunnel looks.
FINAL CURVEGabby Thomas in a Bottega Veneta dress and earrings. Fashion Editor: Yohana Lebasi.
We notice, we compliment each other….
If somebody looks good, itll be like, Yo, I see you, I see the vision.
Fashion chooses its muses with care.
FINISH LINES“I’m just starting to get a sense of what I like,” says Thomas. Proenza Schouler dress. Khaite shoes.
And thats how Ilifelong non-sports fanwind up tuning into basketball games and following Clarks rival Angel Reese on Instagram.
Its not just because I enjoy tracking her evolution from upstart Bayou Barbie to Met Gala jet-setter.
Ive seen versions of that Cinderella story before.
SKY’S THE LIMITThomas wears a Dior jumpsuit and earrings.
Theres something about Angel Reese, or about what Angel Reese represents, that means more to me.
TRIPLE THREATReese in a Loewe coat and Eterne bodysuit.
Again and again, she tosses the ball into the basket, with a near metronomic rhythm.
From the free throw line.
From the side, off one leg.
Its always been both: basketballandfashion, Reese says.
Basketball runs in the family, she explains; both her mother and grandmother played.
I was always in my moms closet, putting on her stuff.
I liked to carry a purse.
I wanted to look put together.
I used to watchAmericas Next Top Modelwith Tyra and practice my walk in the living room, Reese recalls.
In the meantime, however: eyes on the target, a light touch, swish.
Again and again and again.
CHICAGO FIREReese in a Jacquemus suit.
Its very democratic in that way.
All of which is very much in keeping with Virgil Ablohs vision for the brand.
People dont know this about me!
I love her, I love tennis, I love watching it, Kamara enthuses.
Theres so much personal style.
Many Sierra Leoneans fled that brutal war, among them Alphina Kamara (no relation) and Constant Tiafoe.
He worked constantlyhe even slept at the cluband me and my brother, wed stay with him.
So thats how Frances Tiafoe stumbled on to the court; he lived there, basically.
At 17, he won the USTA Junior National Championship.
Right from the get-go, Tiafoe was known for his passionate playing style.
And I wanted clothes to match, you know?
Loud colors, bold colors, stuff that pops, Tiafoe says.
I liked to see these mega-mega celebrities when they were really turned out, he says.
You know, going for it.
Dont get me wrong, Im battling as hard as I can for every point.
And fashion, Tiafoe believes, is part of the show.
Well, yeah, growing up, we all were, of course.
you might be a vessel, a shield; you might make armor, says Ambush designer Yoon Ahn.
This included, importantly, the walk through the tunnel from team bus to locker room.
As a kid in St. Louis, Tatum was all about that look.
Air Force 1s, everything oversizelike that.
A far cry from an aesthetic he now describes as sort of, luxury business casual.
What happened, basically, is that NBA playersonce stuck with the dress codeembraced it.
The looks got sharper and splashier.
After Stern retired in 2014, the code was relaxed, allowing for progressively zanier fits.
Tom Ford suit and shirt.
NFL players were paying attention too.
They wanted their own tunnel.
Or some of them did, anywayOdell Beckham Jr., Cam Newton, a handful of others.
Its very new, says Kyle Smith, the NFLs recently appointed in-house fashion editor.
Because mostly they were wearing, you know, whatever.
Sometimes thered be a flashy suit, and that would surprise people.
So how do you do that?
So players are investing more and more into their look.
What do their tunnels look like?
Smith was not, until a few years ago, a football fan.
Sports in general, not his thing.
He started his career assisting the celebrity stylist Karla Welch.
He was struck by how extraordinarily hard these men worked.
I dont know, it was refreshing.
Likewise, designer Willy Chavarria had an ambivalent relationship to sport.
It interested me aesthetically, he says.
Yankees, Lakers, whatever.
In Chicano culture thats a staple, an oversize football jersey.
Doesnt matter if youve ever watched a game.
(Indeed, the name of the collection was America.)
The aesthetics of sport still interest Chavarria; now, the athletes interest him too.
The thing about athletes, theyre not famous for nothing.
Were so bombarded with that now, people where youre likewho are you?
Where did you come from?
With social media, these celebrities just kind of appear.
Eyes on the target, light touch, swish.
Ive watched that training video of Reese a bunch of times; theres something hypnotic about it.
Then she gets exasperated, and she could call it quits, but she keeps shooting.
Marshaling some inner reserve ofwhat?
And finds her rhythm again.
As Chavarria points out, weve been living through a rather strange epoch, fame-wise.
Be a model, an artist, a fashion designer, an entrepreneur.
Run for office if you like.
Bring on the filters.
Now were somewhere else.
Awash in pseudoscience, misinformation, bots, deepfakes, AI-generated content garbage.
Maybe Im only speaking for myself here, but I long for the real.
You show up every day, and you work.
And win or lose, the emotions that comeyou cant fake that, either.
FINISH LINESIm just starting to get a sense of what I like, says Thomas.
If Gabby Thomas is turning into an influencer, I, for one, am prepared to be influenced.
(Thomas studied neurobiology and global health at Harvard and has a masters degree in epidemiology.)
Fashion, she says, is one of the things shes enjoying right now.
Not that I dont have my own style.
Since then Ive been doing more pretty looks.
Same with the hair and makeup, Im growing with that too.
I will never take my daughter to watch robots play tennis.
Sport, we theorized, was the anti-virtual.
Share a beer, share a cheer, is how Ohanian put the ethos.
Which is, at least, a step in the right direction.
The thing with sports is its constant.
Its not like the cinema or music; thats selective, thats taste.
Sports is just kind ofthere.In theory, its for everybody.
SKYS THE LIMITThomas wears a Dior jumpsuit and earrings.
Designers see Reese, they see Tatum, they see dollar signs.
But isnt the cynical explanation also the Pollyanna one?
Whywouldntthe fashion industry want to be in business with people who represent the values of hard work and authenticity?
Focused on what brings us togetherour dedication, our resilience, our passion for what we do.
I felt pride, pride for my country.
Consider the frilled and bow-bedecked looks Naomi Osaka wore when she made her comeback at last years US Open.
Thats what fashion can do for sport.
For Tiafoe: grooming, Valissa Yoe; tailor, Cynthia Crusan-Noble.
Produced by Boom Productions.
Set Coordinator: JoJo Roy.
The Winter issue is here.
