How the WNBA tunnel walk became a fashion phenomenon | Canada Voices

Forget fashion week. Forget Milan and Paris. Forget street style outside of Café Leon Dore in New York. These days, one of the biggest runways in the world happens in the tunnel.

While the NBA pioneered the now-essential tunnel walk, in which players are photographed arriving at the arena pregame (usually in a special-access tunnel) getting off all manner of fits, the phenomenon has taken over sports at large. MLB and the NFL have both made it part of their sports’ cultures, and the NHL even relaxed its notoriously formal dress code for the 2025-26 season.

Still, the tunnel walk is at its best when hoops are in the mix, and the WNBA’s version has become just as important as its sibling league’s. Last week, when the Toronto Tempo kicked off their inaugural season at Coca-Cola Coliseum, the team made a case for the North having some of the best fits in the Dub.

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The tunnel fits’ origins are a bit nebulous (players can’t not wear clothes to the arena, after all), but it became a focal point of hoops culture back in 2018, in large part due to @LeagueFits, an Instagram account that tracks NBA and WNBA players’ pregame looks. Spotting the sneakers your favourite player wore, or seeing LeBron James sporting an unreleased piece from a cool streetwear brand, has for some become as much a part of tuning into the game as the game itself.

These days, LeagueFits has more than one million followers and remains a steady chronicler of the evolving state of basketball fashion.

It would be ludicrous to say that WNBA players weren’t pulling up to games in great outfits before 2024, but that was the year the league’s cultural weight exploded – and with it the number of eyes on what players were wearing.

Caitlin Clark, one of the biggest stars in the league, is a key fixture in the tunnel walk. Clark entered the league with a Prada contract, and the label has outfitted her for countless games and helped her turn the Dub tunnel into her own Fashion Week runway.

Other players have also relished the opportunity to show out, such as Natasha Cloud and her savvy Americana ensembles (she’s fond of simple white tees and double-denim displays), and Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman, better known by their Twitch tag the StudBudz, with their brash streetwear stylings. There’s also the reigning MVP and three-time champion A’ja Wilson, who, like Clark, leans into designer names and formal pregame attire.

The WNBA’s tunnel fits are often more diverse than those of the NBA, which can sometimes feel like a monotonous cycle of designer threads on top of more designer threads. There can be a bit too much flexing and not quite enough substance – save for Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose next-level fashion sense never fails to impress.

This is all to say that when the Tempo tipped off May 8, eyes were on the team well before they took the court. The group showed up in a wide range of styles, with some players going all-out for their big debut and others opting for more low-key appearances (multiple teammates, like the fans waiting in the stands, pulled up to the game in Tempo-branded hoodies and tees).

Teonni Key stood out in a vintage-style, long-sleeved football jersey paired with simple black pleated trousers. Former UCLA standout Kiki Rice mixed it up with a matching set from statement streetwear brand Rivington roi Rebis, while Julie Allemand went the more formal route with a burgundy suit worn without a dress shirt. Brittney Sykes’s acid-washed Canadian tuxedo (this one paired with a shirt and tie) proved a clear standout, and Temi Fagbenle took the title for the most adventurous outfit of the night with a blue paisley corset worn over a white dress shirt.

No single sense of style defined the Tempo’s tunnel. The locker room is full of diverse sensibilities that are sure to emerge more fully as the season progresses. More important than any outfit, though, is the team’s chemistry, which was evident in their first game.

While the Tempo ultimately lost to the Washington Mystics by three points, the Toronto team came out swinging, making a bold entrance both on and off the court.