Kamilla Cardoso Tunnel-Walks To Her Own Beat

Gone are the days when sports and fashion were considered mutually exclusive: The 2024 WNBA season proved that the two are inextricably linked, as the league’s top athletes turned their tunnel walks into catwalks, gaining fans in the process — and some extra confidence to boot. “When you look good, you feel good, and you play good,” says Kamilla Cardoso, center for the Chicago Sky.

She would know. Expectations were high coming into the Brazil-born 23-year-old’s rookie season — Cardoso was chosen third in the WNBA’s 2024 draft after leading her college team, the South Carolina Gamecocks, to victory at the 2024 NCAA championship (her second with the school), and being named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. But she didn’t come to the pros just to play.

Cardoso first proved her style chops at the draft. She says she stressed over styling herself for the event, recalling how she didn’t have an outfit until mere days before the big night — but her braless MinhLe pantsuit wound up being a viral hit. It paved the way for her many standout first-season looks, which included itty-bitty bubble skirts, cropped bustier tops, and corsets.

“When I know I look good, showing the body and walking down the tunnel, it makes me feel very confident and ready for the game.”

Now, with the 2025 season set to kick off May 16, she’s been preparing both on and off the court: rigorously training for games by enhancing her defensive switches and mid-range shots, and leveling up her tunnel-walk looks by collaborating with stylist Haylo.

Working with Haylo, who counts the NBA’s Norman Powell as well as the NFL’s Javon Bullard and Chukwuebuka Jason Godrick among her clients, will help keep what Cardoso calls her “last-minute” decision-making tendencies at bay. “We’re starting to plan now. I’m really excited,” she says of her upcoming outfits. (No previews, though: She’s keeping them a secret for the time being.)

Cardoso’s been known to show some skin with her looks — and while fashion savants are used to the spicy “naked” styles that dominate today’s runways and red carpets, some basketball fans are less enthused with Cardoso’s style, taking to social media to critique her more daring choices. Not that Cardoso minds.

“You’ve got to do what you like, not what other people want you to do,” she says. Her more daring outfits only add to her self-esteem, especially when they follow the formula of a skirt, crop top, and boots: “When I know I look good, showing the body and walking down the tunnel, it makes me feel very confident and ready for the game.”

Her other key style rules: First, never say no to a trend until you test it out (“Try them all,” she says, “if it works, it works”), and second, don’t be afraid to sample a variety of labels. “I really like Diesel and Chanel, but I like to wear Shein and Fashion Nova, too,” she says of her public ensembles. (At home, she’s more likely to slip into Kim Kardashian’s Skims: “I like the loose T-shirts with shorts.”)

Though working with luxury brands like Prada and Chanel is high on her list of dream collabs, she’s already bagged endorsement deals from behemoths including Nike and AT&T; for the latter, she’s part of the She’s Connected program that aims to inspire women entrepreneurs.

Earlier this month, Cardoso — along with Las Vegas Aces All-Star A’ja Wilson, Phoenix Mercury’s former head coach and GM Cheryl Miller, and other basketball standouts — flew to Tampa with the telco brand to meet fans at the NCAA Final Four as part of AT&T’s Guarantee campaign, and to catch her former collegiate team face off against the UConn Huskies. She thinks her former teammate Sania Feagin, who was drafted to the Los Angeles Sparks in the 2025 WNBA Draft, could give her a run for her money come May — but after having missed half of last year’s games due to a shoulder injury, Cardoso says her No. 1 goal for 2025 is simply having a full, healthy season.

Speaking of goals, landing a big-ticket accessory wouldn’t hurt, either. “At first, I was like, ‘I’m not spending this much money [on bags],’ but now I’m addicted to it,” she says. “I’m aiming for Birkin. I just want a black one, simple.”

“We ain’t there yet,” she says. “I’m working on it, though.”