Supply: Courtesy of Kristine Anigwe / Courtesy of Kristine Anigwe
Kristine Anigwe’s journey from the hardwood to the style world is nothing wanting inspiring. As a former WNBA participant turned artistic visionary, she has seamlessly woven her love for basketball and vogue right into a dynamic profession that redefines what it means to be an athlete and a creator. Via her model, KA Originals, and her work in artistic consulting, Anigwe has cultivated an area the place individuality meets innovation.
Her story is one in all resilience, creativity, and empowerment—rooted in a need to specific herself authentically whereas elevating others. Whether or not designing daring, useful clothes for athletes or crafting campaigns that amplify private narratives, Anigwe’s work transcends developments, providing a long-lasting cultural affect. Her insights reveal how she navigates challenges, forges significant connections, and makes use of her platform to advocate for causes near her coronary heart, reminiscent of home violence consciousness.
On this interview, Anigwe shares her inspiring journey, the teachings she’s realized, and her imaginative and prescient for the longer term on the intersection of sports activities, vogue, and tradition.
On Private Journey and Inspiration
HelloBeautiful: What impressed you to transition from skilled basketball to launching KA Originals?
Kristine Anigwe: It was by no means a actual transition from basketball to launching my model. It was extra concurrently attempting to have a artistic outlet with KA Originals and KA Inventive Consulting. It’s a spot the place I’m in a position to simply be myself, categorical myself, and mix each of the issues I actually love: basketball and vogue.
HelloBeautiful: How has your expertise as a former WNBA participant formed your method to vogue and inventive course?
Anigwe: My expertise as a WNBA participant has been fruitful. I’ve made a number of connections within the basketball world. I’ve been capable of play alongside those who I admired once I was youthful, gamers reminiscent of Candace Parker, who I actually cherished. I cherished her recreation, and having the ability to be mentored by and likewise enjoying on the identical group as her confirmed me that basketball wasn’t simply going to take me to most of these ranges, but it surely additionally may assist me work out a secure house to ultimately heal and pour into one other outlet, reminiscent of vogue. Being 6’4″, I couldn’t discover garments within the retailer, so I made lots of my very own pants.
By making them, I naturally styled myself. So, whereas I used to be abroad exploring designing, I tapped into creating my model, which led to many consumers, principally different athletes, who cherished what I used to be sporting and, as a consequence, wished me to fashion them. In relation to artistic course, I used to be capable of fashion folks primarily based on these fantasy worlds that they wished to stay in, whether or not it’s an ocean theme the place we’d exit within the water and begin doing shoots or studio shoots for his or her private manufacturers. I wished to make positive that their artistic imaginative and prescient was advised they usually had an outlet to specific themselves.
HelloBeautiful: What challenges have you ever confronted breaking into the style world, and the way did you overcome them?
Anigwe: I didn’t perceive all of the roles of a sustainable vogue enterprise. I believed it was all one. Inventive course, styling, and designing had been simply all about being artistic. I didn’t perceive that they had been all separate positions or departments. It’s a must to perceive that and cost your price for all these roles you tackle. In any other case, you grow to be simply overwhelmed and drained with out even realizing it. Simply since you’re good at a number of issues doesn’t imply you need to do a number of issues. You may deal with the issues folks ask for. I overcame that by hiring group and dealing with good those who I may belief. I additionally needed to study to cease doing every part by myself and lean on others.
On Vogue and Styling
HelloBeautiful: Your designs mix boldness with performance. How do you steadiness creativity with practicality when designing?
Anigwe: I’m 6’4″, I play basketball. I wished to have the ability to transfer in my garments whereas additionally having the ability to categorical myself by way of them. So, the vast majority of my designs and styling additionally mirror my way of life. My mother is one in all my position fashions with regards to vogue. She’s somebody who loves dressing up and truly sporting her garments, not simply to particular occasions. She likes sporting her garments to something; she attire as much as go to the grocery retailer. I used to be born in London, and my mother was additionally raised there for a bit within the UK, so a number of her garments are very minimalistic. She wasn’t a fan of loud colours, so I needed to hone my creativity and design conceptualized clothes that was conventional but minimalistic.
Supply: Courtesy of Kristine Anigwe / Courtesy of Kristine Anigwe
HelloBeautiful: Are you able to share the artistic course of behind styling outstanding athletes like Skylar Diggins-Smith and Cameron Brink?
Anigwe: I all the time go primarily based on pores and skin tone, physique form, and the way they wish to really feel and categorical themselves. I’d say that I get pleasure from styling athletes and those who encourage me, the place I can really feel like I might be probably the most artistic with. I began styling Tiffany Hayes three years in the past, and from then to now, her model has modified. So many issues have modified. She’s even created a clothes line. And with Olivia Nelson-Ododa, I began styling her a yr in the past, and he or she didn’t have a model to start with; we had been working from scratch. We haven’t had many individuals lend us garments till now. Lots of persons are reaching out and emailing us to determine the way to work together with her. I had a chance to work with Cameron Brink whereas she was at Stanford due to my connections since I went to the College of California. So, it was enjoyable to work with individuals who I additionally seemed as much as whereas enjoying in faculty. I’ve additionally labored with Nneka Ogumike, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and the record goes on.
HelloBeautiful: How do you method capturing individuality whereas creating cohesive seems to be for basketball gamers?
Anigwe: I honed in on creating a person look as an alternative of creating an id. I don’t comply with developments as a result of most of these developments don’t work for my clientele and wouldn’t seize the look we’re attempting to create. Everybody’s physique kind is totally different. I wish to go deeper into who they’re as an individual, who they wish to mirror on, and who they wish to be within the subsequent 10 years.
On Cultural Impression
HelloBeautiful: Ladies’s basketball has had a profound cultural affect this yr. How does your work contribute to shaping the game’s narrative and aesthetic?
Anigwe: Ladies’s basketball, generally, has grown tremendously since I’ve been within the league. I was drafted in 2019, and there have been barely any followers within the stands. When dressing up for the video games, folks had been you want, why are you dressing up for a basketball recreation? 4 or 5 years later, it’s a vogue present within the Tunnel Walks. I’m getting manufacturers like Versace sending garments for Tunnel Walks. It’s their new focus. And it blows my thoughts to see the expansion and the response from manufacturers. New abilities, like Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese, are using their private manufacturers and bringing extra eyeballs to the sport and every part connecting to girls’s basketball. I really feel like my work is ever-evolving. There’s been a number of potential, and I’ve all the time wished to work with folks so the plenty perceive that these folks I work with aren’t simply greenback indicators; they’re actual individuals who wish to have an effect on extra than simply basketball and vogue. My work helps form these personas and narratives.
HelloBeautiful: In your opinion, what position does vogue play in enhancing the visibility and empowerment of feminine athletes?
Anigwe: Vogue performs an important position in enhancing the visibility and empowerment of athletes. Not solely do they get to specific themselves by way of vogue, however additionally they entice extra viewers to the sports activities. The web visibility of the tunnel seems to be is thru the roof, and persons are nonetheless speaking about final season’s seems to be. Vogue has additionally offered new income streams and alternatives for them. The media and much have grow to be extra within the tales behind the seems to be and gamers.
HelloBeautiful: How do you see the intersection of sports activities, vogue, and tradition evolving within the subsequent 5 years?
Anigwe: I feel we’re solely going to see it intensify. I imagine extra athletes will go into vogue, create their personal manufacturers, and possibly even create direct or co-design collections with different main vogue manufacturers. I additionally suppose extra shoppers will look as much as athletes for fashion inspo. There’s additionally a shift towards intertwining vogue into a complete sports activities group to protect a sure picture. AC Milan and Formulation 1 employed artistic administrators, for instance.
On Management and Branding
HelloBeautiful: As a artistic director for a number of model campaigns, how do you guarantee authenticity whereas collaborating with athletes and firms?
Anigwe: As a artistic director, my major objective is to make sure that each collaboration authentically displays my purchasers’ values and private fashion. Authenticity comes from alignment—if an athlete wouldn’t put on a costume or help a selected product day by day, I’d by no means ask them to take action for a marketing campaign. It’s about discovering natural synergies between the athlete and the model, the place each events are elevated by the collaboration.
I begin by deeply understanding my shopper’s character, preferences, and values, and I work carefully with manufacturers to make sure their mission aligns with these components. For me, it’s by no means about forcing a connection; it’s about creating partnerships that really feel pure and empowering. When each the athlete and the model genuinely imagine within the marketing campaign, it not solely shines by way of visually but additionally resonates with their audiences on a deeper stage. Finally, my objective is to design campaigns that convey out the perfect in my purchasers and showcase their authenticity. Once they totally stand behind a collaboration, it creates a compelling and impactful narrative that advantages everybody concerned.
HelloBeautiful: What recommendation would you give to athletes trying to construct their private manufacturers off the court docket?
Anigwe: I’d inform them to deal with their private model and on what they’re good at. In addition they have to know that to your model to develop, you need to create movement behind it, which suggests working with the precise folks. There’s a massive emphasis on the precise folks as a result of there are some folks you may work with who don’t perceive their course of. You need outcomes, and that’s not the best way to develop. As an alternative, work with individuals who will like to show you their course of when you’re working with them.
This will make you are feeling secure and comfy. It encourages you to proceed working with them even when you can’t see the moment outcomes. Constructing a model is a marathon and never instantaneous gratification. Many transferring elements go into creating a powerful private model. And that’s why I say private model, treating it like a model, not a pattern.
HelloBeautiful: How does your work redefine the standard picture of ladies’s basketball, and why is that essential to you?
Anigwe: My work redefines the standard picture of ladies’s basketball by providing 360 brand-building providers. With conventional girls’s basketball, you solely deal with basketball. I deal with vogue, and if I don’t deal with vogue, I’m focusing in your private model and the way I can create extra income for it, enabling you to pour again into your passions. I attempt to join the dots and work out the way to leverage vogue and styling to develop your model. I’m all about specializing in the athlete’s mission and imaginative and prescient versus what I feel the athlete needs to be doing.
On Future Objectives
HelloBeautiful: What’s subsequent for KA Originals, and the way do you propose to increase its affect?
Anigwe: I plan to increase KA Originals. I’m including a bridal assortment to cater not solely to athletes but additionally to girls who battle to search out attire that match their physique kind. I wish to hone in on creating these magical experiences for folks. A kind of moments is marriage. And I all the time take into consideration the largest day of my life and what I would like it to seem like. I wish to be the area of interest designer that may assist them create memorable experiences. I wish to empower them to discover the outfit of their goals, whether or not a tux, a robe, or a particular event costume. I would like to have the ability to shut that hole.
HelloBeautiful: Are there any dream collaborations or tasks you aspire to tackle sooner or later?
Anigwe: My dream collaboration can be to work alongside one other outstanding clothes model, a conventional Vogue Home, and have the ability to co-design or co-create a challenge that helps uplift one other neighborhood. I’m a enormous advocate for home violence consciousness, so I would like to have the ability to convey extra consciousness to that by using my abilities.
HelloBeautiful: What legacy do you hope to go away behind each within the basketball and vogue worlds?
Anigwe: I wish to be somebody that folks can look as much as and say that they’ve finished every part the precise method, even when it took longer than different folks. I would like the folks I work with to really feel like they’re getting every part they’ll get and have an exquisite expertise. In the long run, I do wish to do extra work with home violence survivors and organizations as a result of I really feel like that’s the one purpose why I began that. I wished to make an affect in that space. I wished to encourage girls to grow to be extra assured after it was taken from them on account of unlucky occasions reminiscent of home violence.
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