This exclusive story appears in LEAGUEFITS VOL. 1.
Nika Mühl doesn’t follow the rules.
With a stack of awards, hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and a personality just as fiery as her game, the 23-year-old Seattle Storm guard is in her own zone. After claiming GQ’s title of Most Stylish WNBA Player back in October—narrowly beating out fellow rookie and fan favorite Cameron Brink—the former UConn point guard, who was also on the LeagueFits First Team and named LeagueFits Rookie of the Year, has perfected her pre-game style just as much as her warm-up routine.
“ I like to think of fashion as a set of rules that I don’t like to follow,” Mühl tells LeagueFits.
And it’s true. On the court, she’s a powerhouse; in the tunnel, she’s a trendsetter. A seamless blend of subtle glam and bold femininity define Mühl’s distinct look. Characterized by sharp tailoring, rich hues and plenty of accessories, Mühl carries her best-dressed title well, embracing experimentation while remaining steadfastly herself. The one thing you’ll never find her without? A pair of statement sunnies. “If I could wear sunglasses at my wedding, I would,” Mühl says with a laugh. The air was cool and the sky grey as Mühl pulled up to her shoot on a Friday in early January in her hometown of Zagreb, Croatia. Born to Roberta and Darko Mühl, two former hoopers, Nika credits her parents with inspiring all avenues of her career, from fueling her athletic ambitions to ideating and designing some of her most iconic looks.
After missing the first four games of the 2024 season due to a delayed work visa, Mühl popped out in the tunnel for her pro debut at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena sporting a graphic tee complete with a photo of her paperwork with a giant “approved” stamped across the front, a bold statement created by her father. “I knew I wanted something that would turn heads for the first time I was going to play,” Mühl explains. “He helped me design the whole thing in one day. It’s one of my favorite looks.” She styled the tee atop an acid-washed denim mini skirt, deep green knee-high boots and an oversized black handbag, a pairing that is quintessentially Nika.
Aside from the stylistic talents of her father, Mühl credits her mother with instilling in her the confidence necessary to embody such bold choices with ease. “It has always been about confidence for me,” Mühl says as she reflects on her style evolution. “Whether I had to fake it or not, I just knew I wanted to look different. I don’t like to blend in.”
Blending in has never been an issue for Mühl, who was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year twice and broke UConn’s all-time career assist record before becoming the 14th pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. That June night not only jumpstarted her professional basketball career, but a career in fashion, too.
“ I wasn’t expecting to be invited to the draft. Never in a million years,” Mühl recalls. “The invite came five days before, and I had nothing in my closet that was worthy of being worn.” That’s when she took to Instagram and DM’d her now-stylist Brittany Hampton to help curate a look that quickly became one of the most buzzy fits in the League: a tailored cropped suit jacket, midi slit skirt, Gentle Monster x Mugler sunglasses and an icy grill with the letters ZG, an homage to her hometown. “ I trust [Hampton] with my life. Every vision that I have, she puts a little bit of her magic onto it and it turns out better than I even thought,” Mühl says.
A visionary herself, Mühl takes a similar collaborative approach to the way she pieces together her Insta-worthy tunnel fits. “ I love to mix styles and eras to make them cohesive,” she says, describing her personal taste as multi-dimensional and slightly androgynous. “I don’t like being in my comfort zone.” And although she has solidified her place as one of the WNBA’s leading faces of fashion, it will never come in between her love of ball. ” I don’t think what I’m wearing that day influences how I’m approaching the game at all. I keep those two things very separate,” she says. “Fashion takes up a little bit of my day, basketball takes up 80 percent of my day. It’s really just a bonus for me to feel good.”
As for what’s next in her career, Mühl says it’s only just begun. As fans eagerly await her return to the court after a torn ACL and meniscus in early October, her undeniable grit has led her past recovery efforts and into a multi-faceted career, one that is unmistakably authentic and rapidly growing.
“I’m really embracing this journey,” she says. “ I don’t think I’ve even touched the surface of where I can be when it comes to fashion.”
Portraits Karla Jurić & Ive Trojanović, 925STUDIO
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