This Met Gala is filled with pro athletes. Dressing them is a unique challenge

HOUSTON (AP) — When Brittney Griner became the first WNBA player to attend the Met Gala in 2023, just months after being released from a Russian prison in a high-profile prisoner swap, she looked effortlessly cool and chic in a custom-made Calvin Klein suit.

Behind the look was celebrity stylist Courtney Mays, who has dressed some of sports' biggest stars for more than a decade. Putting together a glamorous gala look for any celebrity is a tall task, but, when working with the unique proportions of professional athletes — Griner is 6'9" — the job becomes much more complicated.

Couple that with working under the constraints put forth by Vogue editor Anna Wintour: The Met Gala chair provides a list of designers she envisions the guest in — then it’s up to the stylist to put together a look within those parameters.

“It was a learning experience for me,” Mays said. “I had a voice in that world, in a way, but also when Anna says: ‘I want you to wear this,’ you kind of have to go along with it.”

Mays said they chose Calvin Klein to celebrate an American designer and tap into the patriotism of Griner’s emotional return.

“And also, somebody that was a little bit minimalist and could really execute something that wasn’t necessarily about the clothes, but really about the homecoming and her journey and the union between she and her wife,” Mays said. They opted for a champagne-colored look for Griner and a white, corseted dress for her wife Cherelle, “sort of like a fresh start, a new lease kind of metaphor.”

Mays and the team pulled the look together in three weeks, flying to Phoenix once a week for “long and intense” fittings with several tailors. Then Mays tapped Los Angeles shoemaker George Esquivel, who had previously made shoes for NBA stars Kevin Love and DeAndre Jordan, to craft a custom men's size 18 pair for Griner.

Mays’ personal experience as a 6-foot-tall woman has helped her relate to the dressing struggles of many of the athletes she works with.

“I am a plus-size woman, and so fashion for me has always been sort of bittersweet, but also an opportunity for me to be creative in how I found pieces to wear,” she said. “And so, the fact that I’ve been able to work in the sports world, which means I have clients that are 6'9," ... women that wear size men’s 12 and 13 shoe, I have to really think outside the box.”

Over the last few years, more and more athletes have received coveted invites to the annual fundraiser. This year, sports are at the forefront of the gala with Formula One star Lewis Hamilton as a co-chair, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James as an honorary chair and several other athletes on the host committee.

Hamilton was asked Thursday what he’d be wearing to the gala.

“I don’t even know,” he said. “Not putting much thought to it.”

But he gushed about his work with Wintour.

“It’s amazing working with Anna and her team,” he said. “It’s been a privilege to be able to continue to do stuff with fashion. It’s fun. But Anna’s been really understanding. I haven’t had a lot of time to deal with it a huge amount … but the work has been in drips over the past like two years already with us, so, yeah, excited for people to see it.”

Wintour told “Good Morning America” on Friday that she “still doesn’t know what Lewis is wearing” but trusts him.

Monday's Met Gala kicks off this year's Metropolitan Museum of Art spring costume exhibit, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” and the accompanying dress code is “Tailored For You.” Mays has long pushed for increased representation of athletes, especially those who are Black, in luxury fashion spaces.

“I’m hoping that this sort of turns a leaf in the way that fashion respects the Black community, but also just underrepresented people, because you’re going to see so many people at the Met that are going to champion Black designers,” she said. “I’m hoping that you see people that you haven’t seen before. I’m hoping that it sort of opens up the conversation so that we’re not having to fight so hard to get approval from the luxury space, that we’re supposed to be here.”

Though styling Griner was her first experience with the Met Gala, Mays’ work has long been a mainstay of professional basketball’s unofficial runway known as tunnel fits.

NBA players started the trend, arriving at the arena dressed to the nines and being photographed walking through the tunnel to the locker room. In recent years, WNBA stars have followed suit, with their style getting much more attention.

Mays, who has styled Love, Jordan and 20-year NBA veteran Chris Paul, also has a heavy imprint on WNBA style. She's dressed the New York Liberty's Breanna Stewart, the Connecticut Sun's Tina Charles and retired star Sue Bird.

“What she does best is she makes it so that I feel my best in the clothes that I’m wearing,” Stewart said. “And really, that’s the biggest thing behind it. Because when you see all these tunnel fits and people walking, you want them to portray who they are and feel their best.”

Mays sees her work with WNBA players as a perfect way to showcase her passion for championing diversity and inclusion.

“As the media starts to lock into tunnel fits and what the girls are wearing, I hope we get to see more of a wider lens cast on some of the style sensibility,” she said. “We locked really heavily into women that men think are attractive, if I’m just being honest, and I hope that we’re able to see some of the women that are masculine-presenting, some of the women that are dressing more gender-fluid. There’s such a vast, wide spectrum of different styles, and I think that’s what’s so cool about the tunnel fits, is that you see such a diversity and style sensibility.”

The 6-foot-4 Charles has worked with Mays since she was taken with the first overall pick in the 2010 draft. Dressing while she was growing up was sometimes tricky but collaborating with Mays has simplified things. She leans toward expertly tailored suits that highlight her height and athletic build.

“She’s the one who gave me my confidence in my appearance, and so it’s been a great partnership,” Charles said. “It just goes a long way off the court when I’m not with her and just how I feel.”

Mays is participating in the Met Gala again this year, and says to expect “a visual attempt to show that diversity in style when you see women in sports.”

“My ethos has always been how can we converge sport and style in a way that’s authentic and in a way that feels diverse,” she said. “And what was really interesting to me is, with the Met’s chairpeople, to see two athletes a part of the conversation — I think that opens the door for other athletes to participate.”

AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg in New York and AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer in Miami contributed to this story.

For more coverage of the Met Gala, visit https://apnews.com/hub/met-gala.

FILE - Brittney Griner attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty" exhibition on Monday, May 1, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Brittney Griner, left, and Cherelle Griner attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty" exhibition on Monday, May 1, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - British reigning F1 drivers champion Lewis Hamilton arrives for the 2020 Laureus World Sports Awards in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Feb. 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

FILE - Former professional WNBA basketball player Sue Bird presents the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award at the ESPY awards on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)

FILE - Honoree Breanna Stewart, right, and wife Marta Xargay attend the Time100 Gala, celebrating the 100 most influential people in the world, at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on Thursday, April 24, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul celebrates from the bench against the Brooklyn Nets during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

FILE - Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain reacts with fans as he signs autographs as he arrives at the track ahead of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake, File)

FILE - Former Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird arrives during her jersey retirement ceremony following a WNBA basketball game between the Seattle Storm and the Washington Mystics, on June 11, 2023, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

FILE - Brittney Griner attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty" exhibition on Monday, May 1, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Oswin Appollis fired South Africa into the last 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Zimbabwe, while Egypt star Mohamed Salah got a rest.

The Bafana Bafana progressed in second place in Group B, behind already-qualified Egypt, which drew 0-0 with Angola in Agadir. Both final group games were played at the same time.

With his team already through, Egypt coach Hossam Hassan rested his regulars including Salah, Omar Marmoush, and Trézéguet. They’re set to return for the Pharaohs’ first knockout game, also in Agadir, against a third-place finisher from Groups A, C or D on Jan. 5.

South Africa needed a win in Marrakech to be sure of progress without relying on a favor from Egypt. But Zimbabwe twice came from behind and pushed for an equalizer late on.

Tshepang Moremi gave South Africa an early lead thanks to a deflection from Zimbabwe defender Divine Lunga taking it over the helpless goalkeeper.

Tawanda Maswanhise replied in the 19th with a brilliant individual goal, leaving defenders in his wake before firing the ball into the bottom corner.

Lyle Foster headed South Africa’s second early in the second half after a mix-up between Lunga and goalkeeper Washington Arubi.

An own-goal from Aubrey Modiba drew the Warriors level again in the 73rd to set up an exciting finale.

But they weren’t expecting Marvelous Nakamba to concede a penalty for handball instead of heading it, and Appollis duly converted the penalty in the 82nd.

South Africa awaits results in Group F as it will play the second-placed finisher from that group – Ivory Coast, Cameroon or Mozambique – on Sunday.

Later Sunday, host nation Morocco played Zambia in Group A, and Mali faced Comoros.

The Morocco players were cheered when they took their first walk out on the field before the game. Team captain Achraf Hakimi appealed for supporters to stop whistling the team on Sunday. He’s expected to play after recovering from an ankle injury.

AP at the Africa Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-cup-of-nations

Angola's Beni Mukendi and Egypt's Mahmoud Saber compete for the ball during the Africa Cup of Nations group B soccer match between Angola and Egypt in Agadir, Morocco, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Egypt's head coach Hossam Hassan during the Africa Cup of Nations group B soccer match between Angola and Egypt in Agadir, Morocco, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Angola's Gelson Dala, right, controls the ball past Egypt's Ahmed Zizo during the Africa Cup of Nations group B soccer match between Angola and Egypt in Agadir, Morocco, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Angola's Gelson Dala, right, kicks the ball during the Africa Cup of Nations group B soccer match between Angola and Egypt in Agadir, Morocco, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Egypt's Mohamed Salah, center, smiles as he sits on the bench ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations group B soccer match between Angola and Egypt in Agadir, Morocco, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)