• Loading stock data...
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Want a chance to win $250 and free FOS gear? Take our quick reader survey. Take the survey here

The Stylist Outfitting a Stacked Roster of Women’s Basketball Stars

Dressing athletes, including Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, and Cameron Brink, stylist Sydney Bordonaro is weaving fashion into the DNA of women’s basketball at Unrivaled and beyond.

Michael Cummings
Oct 26, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Marvin Bagley III (35) and forward Kyshawn George (18) talk after a turnover against the Charlotte Hornets during the third quarter at Capital One Arena.
Exclusive

Wizards Hire Ex-ESPN Editor Cristina Daglas for Front Office Role

ESPN placed Cristina Daglas on administrative leave in January.
Read Now
October 29, 2025 |

It’s January in Miami, and Chelsea Gray arrives in the Sephora entrance tunnel for her debut at Unrivaled, the new three-on-three women’s basketball league. The Las Vegas Aces guard and captain for Unrivaled’s Rose BC wears a yellow Avirex leather jacket styled with a crisp white shirt and loose black tie—an outfit that affirms Unrivaled is nearly as much about style as it is the play on the court.

Gray’s look is the brainchild of athlete-stylist Sydney Bordonaro, who works closely with other major names in women’s basketball including Kelsey Plum and Cameron Brink. She’s led the charge for the integration of style into the women’s game. 

Bordonaro played at the collegiate level for both Pepperdine University and Long Beach University. “I did my undergrad and master’s in sports management because I wanted to be an agent,” Bordonaro tells Front Office Sports. “That was always kind of the plan.” 

But her path swerved. 

Several years ago, mutual college friends introduced Bordonaro to Jewell Loyd, the Aces guard currently playing for Mist in Unrivaled. Eventually, Loyd asked Bordonaro for some style advice because, in her own words, “I always just kind of dressed a little bit bizarre. I’m always a little bit sporty.” The conversation evolved, and Loyd asked Bordonaro to dress her for the playoffs. “I really fell into [styling],” Bordonaro says. “It was like the most unbelievable blessing.” 

Unrivaled

Now, Bordonaro outfits an extensive roster of some of the highest-profile players, including Gray, whom she’s known since playing pickup games together during her spell at Long Beach University. They’ve collaborated particularly closely during this opening Unrivaled season.

“She hasn’t even worn the best ones yet,” Bordonaro says. They’ve been able to experiment with different silhouettes because “[Gray] is always down to play.” 


Bordonaro is among a crop of prominent and emerging stylists, including Courtney Mays, Amadi Brooks, and Brittany Hampton, who focus on bringing style to sports. However, it’s taken time for the athletes they dress to explore their relationship with fashion and open a space for stylists to work with them. 

Bordonaro explains many athletes are solely focused on their game, which means their personal branding and style is underdeveloped and takes a back seat. They’re “uninformed,” she says, because they aren’t expected to be style icons, too.

“Women’s athletes specifically are different from a singer or some type of actress. The beauty and the fashion is so new to them,” she says.

As women’s sports as a whole find a larger market, partly thanks to the influence of social media and also big names like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, fashion has become a new avenue for revenue and cultural impact. “You’re trying to curate your image and get consistency and hopefully you want to get brand deals,” Bordonaro says. 

She describes the partnership between fashion and sports as “a two-way street. The fashion people are dipping into the sports, but the sports people are also getting an understanding.” Style’s place in women’s basketball has been evolving each year—“elevating,” as Bordonaro calls it. “We’re just trying to make them look good and feel good and present an authentic image to who they are.”


Style is increasingly playing a big role in women’s sports, but Unrivaled has specifically created a unique opening for it to take center stage.

Ahead of the league’s first games, Unrivaled announced a multiyear partnership with Sephora, bringing in the cosmetics giant as its official and exclusive beauty partner. As part of this major affiliation, Sephora has provided Unrivaled with a “glam room,” seeded products to players, and placed branding across the league, including the tunnel itself. 

Compared with the WNBA, Bordonaro believes Unrivaled breeds a more relaxed environment with less pressure—especially because players have different resources. Founded by two current professional players, Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, the league offers minimum six-figure salaries, gives inaugural players equity in the league, and has signed NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals with college players Paige Bueckers and Flau’jae Johnson.

Eliza Huber, senior fashion editor at Who What Wear, agrees with Bordonaro. “[Players] have so much at their fingertips at Unrivaled,” she says, referencing the impressive training and recovery facilities being provided. “Stewie [Stewart] and Phee [Collier] really took their experience and made sure that the players had everything they could possibly need.” 

Resources like this enable players to spend energy on style instead of being laser-focused on their on-court performance. (In contrast, in the closing stages of the 2024 WNBA season, A’ja Wilson turned up to numerous games in a plain white T-shirt, discarding her usual glam moments to place sole focus on her sport.) 

Unrivaled’s centralized location in Miami means Bordonaro—who usually works in Las Vegas—has access to the local design district, which means she can shop locally and work with Miami’s designers. “It’s really nice having that type of access to all those elite stores and brands in one area.” The region’s climate during late winter also has its benefits. “It’s not too hot, not too cold. We can layer if we want or even wear shorts,” she says. 

In Bordonaro’s eyes, the 3-on-3 game format, alongside the close proximity of fans to the court, allows more players to shine than usual on both a professional and personal level. 

Visibility is a key component that can open new doors for women basketball players. “As we’ve seen in other sports leagues, showing fans and viewers a little bit more about yourself when given the platform gives players the opportunity to financially benefit from leaning in to style more,” says Huber. She believes cultural growth is a more pressing matter within the women’s game than the men’s. “In the NBA, it’s different because players make so much more money just at their base salary. They don’t necessarily have to offset their salary with brand deals like you would in the WNBA.”

The Unrivaled season will come to a close in March, but the marriage of sports and style will stay. Huber predicts college basketball will follow in the footsteps of the WNBA and Unrivaled in embracing fashion. “I really expect the NCAA to jump in. With NIL players having the opportunity to make so much more money than they probably do in the pros with brand deals, I really see the tunnel fit phenomenon moving into college basketball, specifically during March Madness.” 

Bordonaro and Unrivaled are opening doors for many athletes, but there is also more movement in the sports-meets-style space, especially in women’s basketball, in which many athletes are signing partnerships alongside working with stylists. For instance, Clark, who is styled by Adri Zgirdea, also has a partnership with Prada. Beauty is also becoming an attractive prospect for athletes; Brink is a brand ambassador for Urban Decay. Teams are also growing partnerships, including the New York Liberty, who teamed up on a multiyear agreement with Off-White in December.

As style becomes a bigger part of the game, opportunities like Unrivaled have set the tone for more evolution in the space. Athletes across many women’s sports are all in on the future.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Oct 26, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Marvin Bagley III (35) and forward Kyshawn George (18) talk after a turnover against the Charlotte Hornets during the third quarter at Capital One Arena.
exclusive

Wizards Hire Ex-ESPN Editor Cristina Daglas for Front Office Role

ESPN placed Cristina Daglas on administrative leave in January.
FuboTV

Disney’s Fubo Deal Closes After DOJ Ends Antitrust Review

The deal creates the sixth-largest pay-TV company in the U.S.

Rozier’s Lawyer Says Missed 2023 Games Cost Him Shoe Money

Rozier had a Puma deal through the end of the 2022–23 season.

WNBA Proposes 30-Day Extension on CBA Negotiations

The CBA expires Oct. 31; a deal is not expected by then.

Featured Today

September 21, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell before the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium

NFL Fall Meeting: 7 Big Topics Among Team Owners 

Media, facilities, and labor highlight some of the key areas of concern.
Ohio State Buckeyes running back Isaiah West (32) runs the ball in the second half at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025 in Madison, Wisconsin
October 25, 2025

NIL Has Birthed a Third-Party Cottage Industry—and It’s a Mess

There’s no limit to how much players can make from NIL deals.
Christie's
October 21, 2025

Lou Gehrig’s $4M Jersey and the Exploding Sports Memorabilia Market

An ultra-rare sports collection is about to hit the auction block.
@chef__tezz/Instagram
October 19, 2025

Inside the NFL’s Private Chef Network

Private chefs are the unsung architects of player performance.
Aug 25, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Close up view of the ball and club of Scott Scheffler during the first round of the TOUR Championship golf tournament.

From Third Tier to $1M: Michael Brennan’s Surprise PGA Tour Win

The 23-year-old won his first professional start on the PGA Tour.
Terry Rozier
October 24, 2025

Terry Rozier Will Be Paid Full NBA Salary While on Leave

The Heat are scheduled to pay Rozier $26.6 million for this season. 
Oct 26, 2025; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) celebrates a three-point shot in the second half against the Brooklyn Nets at Frost Bank Center.
October 27, 2025

NBA Betting Scandals Overshadow Wembanyama’s Superstar Leap

Wembanyama is following the path of Shohei Ohtani in MLB.
Sponsored

Why Alexis Ohanian Is Betting Big on Women’s Sports

Alexis Ohanian reflects on his evolution from Reddit cofounder to one of today’s most dynamic sports investors.
Oct 18, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) holds the MVP trophy after defeating the Milwaukee Brewers in game five of the NLCS during the 2025 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium.
October 24, 2025

World Series Will Be First to Showcase Ohtani’s Two-Way Skills

The two-way superstar is slated to pitch in the World Series.
Malik Beasley
October 23, 2025

After NBA Gambling Arrests, Where Does Malik Beasley Stand?

Beasley was in line to receive a three-year deal from the Pistons.
October 22, 2025

Michelle Wie West: LPGA Earnings vs Endorsements ‘Leveling Out’

Wie West is now retired and focused on investing.
Malonga
October 21, 2025

Turkish Dispute Could Cloud French Star’s Return to WNBA 

Fenerbahçe needs to give Dominique Malonga a “letter of clearance.”