Kristine Anigwe Is Redefining Trend In The WNBA One Look At A Time – Essence

Off The Courtroom: Type of the WNBA is a collection highlighting girls in sports activities and their impression on the worldwide style trade.

Kristine Anigwe has deep emotions about her relationship with style. In our workplaces situated in Brooklyn’s Sundown Park neighborhood, the stylist, artistic director, and former WNBA participant tells me that type has at all times been an integral a part of her life from a younger age. She remembers attending events that her household would host. Many of those gatherings are nonetheless etched into her reminiscence. “My mother would type me and my siblings,” Anigwe remembers. “We might exit to those Nigerian events and simply have enjoyable, have fun the tradition, dance, [and] eat meals.” Anigwe additionally expressed that these occasions have been a means for her household to uphold their neighborhood whereas staying rooted of their heritage.

That stage of intention allowed Anigwe’s curiosity in style to develop in a pure means. Her affinity for garments, which was handed right down to her from her African heritage, is a notion that also stays along with her. “We have been African, that delight was there and we had that fireside in us,” she mentions. She additionally explains that in her youthful years within the 2000s, at one level she was fixated on the heeled sneakers, Heelys, so she made herself a customized pair. Anigwe mentions right here that she has at all times had a designer mindset–she says she was impressed to create these sneakers after visiting Nigeria for the primary time. 

Standing at 6’4”, Anigwe, initially from London and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, is arguably one of many biggest basketball gamers to grace Berkeley College (Anigwe was the 2016 USBWA Freshman of the Yr for the California Golden Bears). She later joined the Connecticut Solar after being drafted in 2019. Kristine would later play for the Dallas Wings, the Los Angeles Sparks, and the Phoenix Mercury. 

The designer’s contributions to the game are top-tier. To some, her journey throughout the style trade may very well be considered as inevitable, particularly given how expert she is at dressing herself. She has a watch for structured and practical items corresponding to elevated suiting, which she credit to being born in London and her travels to Europe. The image-making she is concerned with each day for WNBA stars speaks volumes. Athletes Anigwe has labored with embrace Olivia Nelson-Odada, who the stylist shares has a modelesque determine. She explains that to execute many seems for her shoppers, she usually works on designs in the course of the low season of the WNBA.

To Anigwe, Nelson is a “futuristic Bratz doll.” That is as a result of Connecticut Solar’s gamers’ affinity for the hue gray–she additionally enjoys carrying designs by Diesel and different stylish homes. This season, Nelson-Odada was noticed in items by Louis Vuitton, LaPointe, and objects that evoke her curiosity in stylish but subtle separates: a leather-based two-piece set in a wealthy gray tone and a customized patchwork coat by superstar designer Jeff Hamilton.

One other shopper, Tiffany Hayes, of the Golden State Valkyries, effortlessly showcases her love for streetwear with Anigwe’s steerage—she started working with Hayes in 2022. At this level in our dialog, Anigwe shares that most of the ensembles she items collectively for Hayes are impressed by Korean streetwear and the buzzy Okay-pop trade. Outsized bottoms, slouchy colourful sweaters, and button-ups make up items related to Hayes. The Valkyries participant additionally experiments with enlarged blazers and ties–these items, that are additionally at instances executed by Anigwe, push the envelope when it comes to gender fluidity.

Anigwe’s styling work with WNBA athletes ran in tandem along with her creation of KA Originals, a way of life model which was launched in 2022. Whereas nonetheless within the W, Anigwe shares that she was unable to seek out clothes, together with pants that match her effectively. As a substitute of ready for a line to be created that she might assist, the designer created her eponymous line. Anigwe prides herself on designing items which have a minimalistic but wearable strategy, much like the seems she pulls off for her shoppers. Gamers Skylar Diggins-Smith, Arike Ogunbowale, Azurá Stevens, and Diamond DeShields have worn KA Originals throughout tunnel seems. (Diggins-Smith is a earlier shopper of Anigwe).

The enmeshment of excessive style and sport-centric apparel is a by line that connects every of Anigwe’s largest skills. With KA Originals, her styling work, and her simultaneous artistic path tasks, the multi-hyphenate pushes ahead her innate pursuits throughout the international style trade at massive. This convergence is a subject we mentioned throughout our wide-ranging dialog. Anigwe expresses that she is hopeful the eyes on the W proper now will result in additional model offers for gamers who aren’t family names. She inquired: “Can we see lots of several types of gamers within the media?”

To the designer and stylist, style can also be a way of cultural connection that has led to main success for Anigwe. Apart from proudly owning a manufacturing unit in Turkey, she has additionally been in a position to constantly launch collections from KA Originals since its launch. Each of those examples present proof of Anigwe’s willingness to lean into her items whereas creating a reputation for herself in a saturated market. On the realities of entrepreneurship, she shared that people don’t need to solely depend on creating their very own companies to achieve success. Working in company, in accordance with Kristine, will be equally as profitable.

In the direction of the tip of our dialog, Anigwe talked about that one among her missions in her artistic work with KA Originals is to affirm girls and present them a path to monetary freedom. This can be a telling assertion, particularly given the immense strides the previous WNBA participant has made since stepping away from the league. Along with her dedication to her craft, Kristine has been in a position to showcase an empowering journey that gamers and followers of the game can look to for inspiration. “There’s at all times a means out of the established order,” Anigwe added.