When it comes to peacocks, it’s hard to beat male athletes. Their tunnel walks have been painstakingly documented; their fits have dominated the draft day conversations for the N.B.A. and the N.F.L.; their love of Vuitton and Hermès has been parlayed into brands of their own.
But on Monday evening at the W.N.B.A. draft, following the most-watched women’s college basketball game in history and the most-watched basketball game at any level since 2019, that all changed. Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink, among others, saw that style marker and raised it one.
Well, they are elite competitors — in image-making as on the court. Fashion, it seems, has finally figured that out. Stylists and brands are waking up and reaching out.
“People are seeing us for who we are now,” said Rickea Jackson, the No. 4 pick of the night, who is going to the Los Angeles Sparks.
It started with Ms. Clark, the No. 1 pick, who is going to the Indiana Fever and continued her record-breaking streak by becoming the first basketball player, man or woman, to be fully decked out by Prada for the draft.
