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Professional sports has officially entered its high-fashion era.
Four-time NBA champion LeBron James will serve as honorary chair of the 2025 Met Gala, signaling a budding union between sports and couture. James is joined by WNBA newcomer Angel Reese, and fellow Olympians, Simone Biles and Sha’Carri Richardson, who are part of the host committee for the fundraiser that has become a fashion spectacle.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 13: Simone Biles attends The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A … More Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by John Shearer/WireImage)
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The Gala, also known as the Costume Institute Benefit, has been drawing celebrities of all crafts to its celebrated red carpet since 1948. And while athletes are no stranger to the event—iconic champions such as Serena Williams have attended multiple times—this year’s extravaganza highlights sports celebrities in a new way.
The event celebrates the opening of the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. Presented in 12 parts, the exhibit will explore athletic dress in “Champion,” a section that considers the role of the uniform and amplifies figures like Walt Frazier. A basketball Hall of Famer, Frazier was the first to score an endorsement deal with a major shoe brand when he signed with Puma in 1973.
How Stylists Changed The Game
While today’s fans are accustomed to the sartorial showcase that their favorite pros present on draft night and in the arrival tunnel before games, high fashion brands have not always understood the benefit of working with the Black athletes that dominate courts and fields. Stylists like Kesha McLeod are part of the reason why that’s changed.
McLeod is an entrepreneur and author who has been helping athletes elevate their brands through fashion for nearly 20 years. She got her start in 2006 alongside a cohort of Black women stylists who developed their talents under the mentorship of Rachel Johnson. A legend of her craft who has styled Jay-Z, Victor Cruz, and LeBron James, to name a few, Johnson is one of the pioneers who envisioned the era unfolding now, one where luxury brands and elite athletes thrive in harmony.
The flicker of a chuckle emanates as McLeod tells me about how often she hears terms like ‘tunnel runway’ sprinkled casually into conversation these days.
“I guess that’s what they’re calling it now,” she says. The veteran stylist remembers a time when there was no such thing.
“I used to have to write three-page emails,” McLeod told me in reference to the effort it once took to convince brands that they should want her star athlete clients wearing their designs. “They didn’t want to hear us then. They weren’t listening.”
Today, brands approach her. Given that McLeod’s client list bears household names Serena Williams and James Harden, as well as up-and-comers, such as Deja Kelly, it makes sense that her phone rings often.
SANTA MONICA, CA – JUNE 25: MVP winner James Harden (L) poses with P.J. Tucker in the backstage … More photo room during the 2018 NBA Awards Show at Barker Hangar on June 25, 2018 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
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There are two key moments in recent sports history that McLeod says were turning points that led to the current era. First among them, the 2010-2014 period when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh reigned in Miami. The trio, who became known as the Big Three, won back-to-back championships with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013.
James, Wade, and Bosh didn’t just sizzle on the court; they also made a statement with their tunnel fits.
“Chris Bosh was the gentleman of the league,” McLeod said in an interview. “Dwyane Wade would come in short shorts, nails painted, colorful everything. LeBron always had something fashion forward on.”
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 20: NBA players Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James arrive to the … More T-Mobile Magenta Carpet at the 2011 NBA All-Star Game on February 20, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
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While the Big Three turned the tunnel into their own fashion stroll, it would still be years before high fashion brands understood the value that elite athletes could bring more broadly. According to McLeod, that revelation came in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic brought the entertainment industry to an abrupt halt. Nearly everything stopped, except sports.
“Brands wanted a way to get their social content out and they were the only ones going to work to entertain us,” McLeod said of the athletes she styled during the year that the NBA and the NHL completed their seasons in a quarantined environment.
Without access to the catwalks and red carpets where they typically showcased their brands, high fashion found a new platform in the bubble, and a host of athletes and stylists poised to seize the opportunity.
The Future Of Sports And Fashion
Fans have seen glimpses of a union between sports and high fashion before, but these fleeting moments have tended to fall short of a true embrace. After all, LeBron James first appeared on the cover of Vogue alongside supermodel Giselle Bündchen in 2008. But he was photographed in a basketball uniform, McLeod reminded me, not couture.
New collaborations on the horizon indicate that decision makers in both industries may have finally had a change of heart.
Last year the NFL tapped Kyle Smith to be its first ever fashion editor, and released a limited edition dickey jacket collection in partnership with luxury women’s apparel brand, Veronica Beard. The league will continue to lean into elevated apparel with its own brand, Off Season. The new venture was co-founded by designer Kristin Juszczyk and entrepreneur Emma Grede.
“Fashion has increasingly become an integral part of game day culture, allowing us to collaborate with a roster of brands to deliver stylish and distinctive apparel to fans,” NFL director of licensing Xaimara Coss said in a press release. “Off Season marks a significant evolution in our licensed merchandise, transforming one individual’s fandom-inspired designs into one of the NFL’s most sought-after collaborations.”
New partnerships are also emerging in other leagues. Coach announced that it would become the official handbag partner of the WNBA just ahead of the 2025 draft.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 14: Deja Kelly arrives prior to the 2025 WNBA Draft at The Shed on April … More 14, 2025 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
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“Coach and the WNBA share a belief in the power of self-expression,” said Coach CMO Joon Silverstein in a press release. “We’re excited to partner with this league, an organization that uniquely champions individuality, and to support these courageous athletes who are breaking molds both on and off the court, inspiring our audiences to embrace the many possibilities of who they are and who they can be.”
With stylists like McLeod, who also consults for brands, working behind the scenes, the next chapter in the story of fashion and sports is likely to turn heads.
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