A Vogue article published last season<\/a> declared that \u201cThe WNBA Tunnel Is Officially a Fashion Destination.\u201d <\/p>\nAustin has adapted to the spotlight and says she enjoys expressing herself through clothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives a little bit of a model essence,\u201d Austin said. \u201cYou go through, you pick out your fit for the day, and all cameras are on you, so it\u2019s definitely a nice little highlight off the court before you start to lock in for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now in her fourth year with the Washington Mystics, Austin\u2019s sense of style is fully her own.<\/p>\n
Without much styling advice from teammates as a rookie, she leaned on her passion for creativity and beauty to guide her looks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve just always liked to express myself through beauty \u2014 from either masculine or feminine looks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
At 6 foot 5, Austin has had to work with limited clothing options.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing that I am a tall girl, it\u2019s kind of hard to find clothes, so repeating stuff is a big deal for me,\u201d she said. \u201cAlso, just making [the outfit] a different vibe each time.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754055610_989_\")
<\/p>\n
The Dallas Wings\u2019 Paige Bueckers poses on the orange carpet during a WNBA All-Star Game event in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
(Darron Cummings \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Connecticut Sun center Olivia Nelson-Ododa didn\u2019t get comfortable until she partnered with stylist Kristine Anigwe, a former WNBA player and owner of KA Creative Consulting.<\/p>\n
\u201cFiguring out, \u2018OK, this is my style, this is what I actually like and enjoy wearing. How can I put it together in something that is comfortable and makes me feel confident?\u2019\u201d Nelson-Ododa said.<\/p>\n
She describes being a \u201cserial pieces repeater,\u201d choosing to mix and match rather than follow trends.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, it\u2019s fashion, there\u2019s like no rules to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Off the court, fashion is now a way for her to show different sides of herself beyond her basketball identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already have an amazing job like this, and being able to add on by showing ourselves in a different light is super fun,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Although she doesn\u2019t have the biggest interest in fashion, Sparks center Azura Stevens has seen tunnel fashion evolve into something much bigger.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754055611_511_\")
<\/p>\n
The Sparks\u2019 Rickea Jackson poses on the orange carpet during a WNBA All-Star Game event in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
(Darron Cummings \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cool to put together different fits, kind of show your personality through style,\u201d she said. \u201cI am kind of used to it now \u2014 it\u2019s just a part of the game-day routine.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her time in the league, fashion has become a natural part of the culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has become a really big thing for it to be like runways almost before the game. It\u2019s a part of the culture now of the [league],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Stevens\u2019 teammate, veteran forward Dearica Hamby, has had a career full of fashion transitions since she entered the league in 2015 when fashion wasn\u2019t a major part of the WNBA culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cMine has changed over the course of the years,\u201d she said. \u201cFor me, I\u2019m sometimes business-like, but overall just really well put together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamby credits her time with the Las Vegas Aces as the moment she saw the shift.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of feel like my time in Vegas is when it really took off. We had a really talented photographer who was able to capture our fits,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Hamby is still learning what works best for her style. One thing she\u2019s noticed: how an outfit looks in a photo matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes things don\u2019t photograph well, and that\u2019s what I am starting to learn,\u201d she said. \u201cIt could look good in person, but it doesn\u2019t necessarily photograph well, so you wanna wear things that are cut and crisp.\u201d<\/p>\n
As tunnel walk content grows on social media, so can critiques of players and their outfit choices. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve definitely gotten flamed before for certain outfits,\u201d Nelson-Ododa said. \u201cSome people are not fans and some people are fans. I really don\u2019t care, as long as it feels good on me, I\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou definitely know that eyes are going to see, and you\u2019re going to be talked about \u2014 whether it\u2019s a positive view or negative view,\u201d Hamby said.<\/p>\n
What matters most to Hamby is the feeling behind the fit: \u201cJust remind yourself that if you feel good and you feel like you look good in it, that\u2019s all that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shakira Austin didn\u2019t realize how important fashion would become when she entered the WNBA in 2022. Her introduction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,569,24659,15274,1187,28529,28527,2002,8490,28525,12197,82,7479,28530,28531,630,28526,28528],"class_list":["post-39460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-culture","tag-dearica-hamby","tag-fan","tag-fashion","tag-fit","tag-game-day","tag-league","tag-part","tag-personal-style","tag-shakira-austin","tag-sports","tag-time","tag-tunnel","tag-tunnel-walk-fashion","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-player","tag-wnba-social-medium-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}