Glen Dandridge/ Courtesy of Brittany Hampton
Women’s basketball is having a moment. After garnering record-breaking levels of interest during the 2024 season, the sport has become fashion’s latest runway with pre-game tunnel walks establishing both NBA and WNBA players as stylish personas on and off the court. For many of the best dressed, they can thank Brittany Hampton, the 35-year-old styling veteran who’s injecting a subversive ethos — “high low” dressing, streetwear cues, and playful proportions — into the wardrobe of the biggest names in the WNBA right now. “Women’s sports are redefining the culture,” she tells The FADER. “We understand that from a fashion perspective, although it took [the culture] a little bit to catch up.”
In just a few years the Filipina-American, Bay Area native — whose miles-long resume includes stints at Ford Models, Nickelodeon (where she worked with Ariana Grande and Jennette McCurdy), and Russell Westbrook’s clothing brand, Honor The Gift — has become the go-to dresser for the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries Collective, the New York Liberty, and the sport’s rising Gen Z cohort including Los Angeles Sparks’ Cameron Brinks and Dallas Wings’ Paige Bueckers, who was selected as the first overall pick in the 2025 WNBA draft. A self-proclaimed “sports girl,” Hampton cites her grandmother’s legacy as a fashion designer in San Francisco and an ethos of building “a sense of identity” around clothes as her biggest inspirations.
As the WNBA’s 2025 season gets underway, get to know the game’s top unofficial-official stylist as Hampton walks us through her styling journey, how she’s collaborating with the game’s biggest stars, and the challenges of navigating the intersection of fashion and sports.
“Women’s sports are redefining the culture. We understand that from a fashion perspective, although it took [the culture] a little bit to catch up.”
The FADER: Have you always been interested in sports? What was your first role in the fashion and sports space?
Brittany Hampton: Both my mother’s and my father’s sides are huge sports fans. I played basketball and volleyball in high school. In 2014, I worked with Russell Westbrook and his wife, Nina Westbrook, at the time, and knew that the women who were shopping for Russell were female athletes. When I brought in the women’s collection for his brand, Honor The Gift, I knew that we needed guidelines. We needed to create silhouettes of who those female athletes were and body types that fit that target market. That came not only from a design perspective, but from a marketing perspective as well. We one of the first brands to support the women going to the tunnels.
How do you articulate an athlete’s aesthetic style versus other talent you’ve worked with in the past?
As stylists, we don’t just see [athletes] as hoopers, but as high-fashion stars, too. We separate them from their current identity on the court and take them off the court. Fashion is just one of those pillars, right? Everything that they do within the community is important, too, and that’s something we strive to do with every single individual client that we have. We focus on who they are across the board. Every single thing matters, and clothing is one part of their identity.
How does styling female athletes speak to your styling ethos?
It’s all about building out their character, personality-wise. There are a lot of [stylists] that call themselves “image curators” or, as Law Roach calls himself, an “image architect.” That signals that we do more than just create a blueprint, but build one from the ground up. I’ve always been obsessed with how people show up in the world. I saw these talents and celebrities almost like the potential of what they could become — and [then] create storytelling around that.
Walk me through your first WNBA client. What was that experience like?
Paige Bueckers was my first WNBA client. I did a StockX campaign with her in 2021. She became my niece on set, and I felt like any and everything that she called me for after that was easy to help her lead into. When she was injured during the 2022–2023 season, I saw her as a comeback kid when she had torn her ACL. When I go to brands, they may not support our vision [when] the girls aren’t active [on the court]. It’s a vulnerable moment for them as they’re recovering from those injuries and the industry and facing the public scrutiny of it all. As women, we have to prove the value of our work and our vision, even if it speaks for itself. No matter what though, I’m constantly going to push for these girls.
When a player is injured, does that drastically affect your process? How do you approach difficult circumstances like that?
It limits us from a full glam moment. But in those moments, it’s about being that person in their life whom they know they can lean on. This is a moment for them to heal, but it could also be a different avenue for them to explore in the meantime.
I work with Nika Mühl, and she will be out for the entire season at the Seattle Storm. She is so invested not only in who she is as a person on the court, but her craft outside the court, and understanding that there’s a market that still wants to reach her. She could use the opportunity to tap into other avenues.
What are some other challenges you face dressing athletes?
One of the biggest challenges is navigating the fashion industry, which may or may not understand the value of the intersection of sports. I feel like I have to advocate hard for my clients to be seen, to be dressed, to be heard, and to be paid what they deserve. We all know that brands get the clicks and the marketing aspect they need for the players wearing their clothes, but what do the players get in return? I strive to provide day-to-day support to these girls because it’s not just glamorous, it’s logistics. It’s everything in managing expectations on top of everything.
“I feel like I have to advocate hard for my clients to be seen, to be dressed, to be heard, and to be paid what they deserve.”
I’d love to hear more about your favorite styling moments.
The 2024 WNBA draft for both Nika and Paige. Nika was particularly memorable because she reached out to me via Instagram DMs while she was at UConn. We never met each other before then, but something that stuck out to me was how she reached out. She sent it in the middle of the night and sounded so nervous. She was like, “I don’t know what I’m going to get out of this, but I just hope and pray I want to work with you because I don’t have any money.” I took a moment to make that girl’s life what it is, and now she’s one of the best-dressed players. I love pulling last-minute custom looks for someone, but especially for Nika. It’s the quiet moments where people may not see all the madness that happens, but that’s the magic in styling.
Do you have any advice for aspiring stylists?
Something I told my girlfriend recently was to trust her taste and sharpen your voice. She tends to be quiet about the things she wants, and I feel as a woman, this industry will always try to make you question your taste level and your voice. You have to be able to learn how to be of service to any and everyone but still be able to respect your creative boundaries at the same time. Never underestimate the power of both.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.