“Dressing athletes requires a unique approach to storytelling,” Brittany Hampton tells Vogue Philippines. Photo by Glen Dandridge Jr.
Filipino-American stylist Brittany Hampton talks to Vogue Philippines about a childhood immersed in fashion via barongs and Filipinianas, clothes as a medium for storytelling, and cultivating a new style language for athletes.
When Paige Bueckers, the lithe 6’0” point guard for the University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team took to the ESPY’s red carpet in early July, she cemented what both sports fanatics and passive bystanders alike have suspected; the star player’s striking style, both sartorial and athletic, exudes an innate passion for self-expression and confidence.
Bueckers’s style streak, which blazed at the ESPYs in the form of a pale pink suit with embroidered imagery straight from the Kid Super runway, anchored by a pair of white patent leather Jimmy Choo loafers, has been cultivated by Brittany Hampton, the 35-year-old Filipina-American and owner of Hampton Creative Consulting. The Los Angeles-based Hampton has styled other notable athletes, including Nika Mühl, Sloane Stephens, Russell Westbrook, and Victor Cruz, and art-directed campaigns and collections for brands like Honor The Gift, Jordan Brand, and Stock X.
But it’s her most recent work with Bueckers and Mühl for high-profile events, editorial spreads, and the pre-game WNBA tunnel that has helped establish both players as in-demand personas on and off the court. Hampton’s holistic approach to creative storytelling (hint: it goes way beyond the clothes) is at the heart of the San Francisco native’s strategy and what comes across in each client’s look whether it’s polished head-to-toe Prada or a deconstructed denim look from Jaded London.
There’s no better timing for Hampton’s talent to collide with her athlete clients’ ascent. Sports and fashion are having an irrefutable moment. Type “WNBA” into a Google search bar and “WNBA style” loads as the first hit right above the official game schedule. WNBA and NBA tunnel style rivals traditional runways in terms of setting viral trends. Recently, luxury brands were ubiquitous at the 2024 Olympic games in Paris. In addition to the return of Team USA’s Ralph Lauren opening ceremony looks, this year’s gold medals were designed by LVMH-owned jewelry brand Chaumet and presented to winners on Louis Vuitton trays. New York designer Telfar created opening ceremony uniforms for Team Liberia; sleek black caftans with necklines shaped like the continent of Africa.
Hampton’s point of view, applied to sports stars or otherwise, syncs with our current zeitgeist—a knowledge of streetwear labels, playfully daring proportions, and importance placed on accentuating the body as much as a client’s overall persona. Her ability for fashion and image building is something she attributes to her maternal Apo. Originally from Pampanga, Hampton’s Apo was a fashion designer and creator of FAYE (Fashion Arts and Youth Enterprise) in San Francisco. “That’s where the full fashion element came into it for me,” says Hampton. “I knew then that I wanted to be a designer.” Watching her Apo make barongs and Filipinianas inspired her to study fashion design at FIDM in San Francisco. On weekends, Hampton would dip down to Los Angeles and began making inroads in film and television, landing a job handling wardrobe for Nickelodeon shows and dressing talent like Ariana Grande and Jennette McCurdy in their early days of stardom.
After her time at Nickelodeon, it was Hampton’s turn in front of the camera. In 2014, she joined the first season of the reality competition show House of DVF as a contestant and won a year-long reign as the Global Ambassador to DVF. The role gained Hampton access to the fashion world, its events, and its personalities. It was during a 2014 DVF runway show that Hampton met Westbrook, who was then planning the launch of his LA-based brand Honor The Gift and recruited Hampton as the junior creative director across the men’s, women’s, and kid’s collections.
Through Honor The Gift, Hampton had first-hand experience with creating inclusive size ranges that would suit tall athletes, setting her on the path to styling more sports figures. She began styling Westbrook and his wife and soon, her work caught the attention of more and more NBA and WNBA players.
“Dressing athletes requires a unique approach to storytelling,” says Hampton, who loves to support up-and-coming labels as much as creating custom looks with established European houses. “It’s about understanding who they are now and who they will become.” Hampton references Bueckers’s journey as the “comeback kid” after an injury and factoring that portion of her story into an overall style arc. “My portion in that is enhancing the narrative through fashion, understanding who they are as a persona first and getting them to understand what they really like vs what they should be attached to.”
Her strategy seems to be paying off. GQ recently named Mühl “Best Dressed Rookie,” and she’s been called “the Charli xcx of the court” by fans on social media. “If Nika wants to wear eyewear every time she’s in the tunnel, then she can also sell her own. That’s how my brain works,” Hampton says. “I am here to build with her because she’s not just a hanger. Her storytelling should align with everything she’s about. I’m always thinking about the marketing aspect because these women belong here. They deserve to be here.”
As for Bueckers, Hampton sees her as her “Zendaya,” putting the player in a mix of high and low labels and always introducing her to indie brands in order to help develop her own unique aesthetic. “I love taking those moments and giving opportunities to younger designers,” says the stylist. “I want their audience to be able to shop what they’re wearing. It can’t always be Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Prada. They have to be able to wear the highs and lows.”
Through dressing athletes, Hampton has also been able to advocate for size inclusion, be that with shoes or jewelry that considers tall and athletic builds. She has pulled both women’s and men’s runway collections and designer shoes for her female clients, creating a more gender-fluid approach to red-carpet dressing. When it comes to jewelry, Hampton name-checks David Yurman as having size-inclusive rings, necklaces, and bracelets.
“Athletes are underrepresented in fashion,” she says. “Luckily, I do work with incredible tailors and brands that align with the ethos of inclusivity. They realize the cultural impact, diversity, and empowerment that sports figures bring and want to support and do better for them.”
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