Out Fits is an ongoing series in which I examine the fashion and style evolution of queer athletes. My hope is to examine the different ways queer athletes express their personal style in public, and celebrate the range and diversity of queer expression. These posts will be free for everyone to read, but many hours of work goes into them and if you have the means to become a paid subscriber, I would really appreciate it!

The first installment featured the Papi herself, Natasha Cloud. Today we’ll be looking at DiJonai Carrington. Make sure you stay to the end, where I’ll show paid subscribers how to get Carrington’s look.

Something clarifying happens when you go through years worth of photos of someone—their aesthetic patterns and tendencies become clear quite quickly. In examining DiJonai Carrington’s personal style, her preferences were immediately apparent. Carrington doesn’t just have a general style that she’s drawn to; she has a few hallmarks of her fashion that show up in nearly every outfit she wears. That made breaking down her style both easier and harder than I anticipated. Easier because it was very obvious which hallmarks I would highlight, harder because it wasn’t as easy to divide her looks into clear cut sections because so much of them bled together.

Carrington is a high femme icon, known for playing basketball in a full beat and impeccable styling. But she’s a tomboy, too, and both sides of her personality—the one who wants to be comfortable and the one who wants to look fierce—show up often in her looks.

“I’m going to say my personal style is sexy, but not too much,” Carrington told Harper’s Bazaar in 2024. “It’s either a crop top, cleavage, a short, or a tight—not all four, you know? I could do three, but not all four.” She’s also said she’s a fan of Y2K-era fashion, as evidenced by her velour track suits. She also loves a pop of pink in her outfits, whether that comes from shoes or a bag or the clothing itself.

Below, a look at Carrington’s style evolution, and three hallmarks of her aesthetic that make it her own.

Players express themselves through their tunnel fits, but they also show elements of their aesthetic expression while in uniform. A look at Carrington’s media day photos throughout her career show a consistency in her expression, with only slight changes to her hair and makeup over the years.

When she joined the league in 2021, she had long blonde braids that brushed her butt. She has continued to favor long, blonde hair, though she’s switched up the tone and texture. And while she still plays in a full face of makeup, her lashes have gotten less heavy since she entered the league. But the basics of her look have remained the same, becoming a bit of a signature for her. It’s how she stands out on the court and asserts her identity.

“On the court, 95 percent of the things you wear are the same as everybody else’s, so [makeup is] one of the things that can just make you you,” Carrington told Harper’s Bazaar last year. She also told the New York Times in 2022 that she feels like she plays better when she’s in full glam.

Carrington’s on-court aesthetic is no accident. She understands herself to be a public figure and an entertainer, and she takes that job seriously. “I probably wear more makeup during games than I do in regular life, but it’s like: People get ready for work to look their best,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “So, for me, this is my work, and I like to look my best too.”

And in a world where Black, queer women are at a disadvantage when in comes to sponsorship deals, Carrington likely knows that leaning into a feminine aesthetic while on the court serves to make her more marketable. She’s been able to leverage her signature look into a Reebok endorsement (alongside Angel Reese and Lexie Brown, who have very similar gender presentation and aesthetics to Carrington), OneSize beauty (a setting spray campaign for Carrington was only a matter of time, her face stays perfectly painted all game), and an appearance in the WNBA’s Skims campaign.

Carrington loves a denim moment—another nod to that early-aughts era of fashion that she loves so much.

Carrington also doesn’t shy away from a Canadian tuxedo—pairing denim skirts with denim crop tops or denim corset tops. There’s no such thing as too much denim. What I love about Carrington’s tendency to lean into the too muchness of a denim look is the exaggerated nature of it; intentionally or not, it leans into the hyperfeminity and camp of queer, high femme fashion that rejects the male gaze by dialing a look up to 10.

Carrington is someone whose definition of femininity is not limited. Reflections of the fact that she is a professional athlete and probably a bit of a tomboy at heart show up in her clothing, too.

When she’s not dressed to the nines, she chooses comfort—but never at the expense of style. Carrington clearly feels good in athleisure and sneakers. She still favors crop tops that show off her killer abs, but in these looks she appears to have shopped in the “lifestyle” sections of a Nike, Adidas, or Reebok store. These looks are clearly just as thought out as her more formal ones—casual doesn’t have to mean unintentional.

Carrington has an enviable collection of knee-high boots.

So many boots in so many colors, and she loves to pair them with a miniskirt to show off her legs. The girl knows what she likes, and her ability to have crafted such an impeccably specific signature style in such a short period of time is impressive.

So you want to dress like DiJonai Carrington?

I’ve put together a few outfits to give you a place to start. I made sure to include denim, athleisure, boots, and something pink! I’ve also made sure to have straight- and plus-sized options for everything. I tried to stay away from items that were too expensive, trying to provide style inspo for folks who don’t have the budget for designer goods. Full disclosure: the links are affiliate links so I do get commission if you buy anything from here!