Angel Reese Gave Vogue the Exclusive
As if the Bayou Barbie would ever declare for the WNBA Draft via a Canva graphic
Angel Reese has had quite a week. On Monday night, she played a starring role in the most-watched women’s college basketball game of all time, when she and the Louisiana State University Tigers took on Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa bested LSU in what was a rematch of last year’s national championship game; but perhaps more importantly, was a women’s sporting event that drew 12.3 million eyes—a number that surpasses the viewership of every MLB game last season, every NHL game last season, every MLS game last season, and every NBA game last season except for one.
Both she and Clark have played a critical role in drawing these numbers and elevating the exposure of the women’s game. The on-court adversaries are purveyors in box-office basketball, elite trash-talking, and championing the women’s game to new heights. Their impact can be best explained in a few words: Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are household names. I’m not sure that any current men’s collegiate basketball player is. ESPN can back me up on this one; Monday night’s matchup was also the most-watched college basketball game, men’s or women’s, to ever air on any of their platforms.
Angel Reese has received far more criticism than the record-smashing Clark; and while some of this can be chalked up to a viral trash-talking gesture in last year’s tournament, one only has to look as far as the Los Angeles Times to know that it’s much deeper and far more sinister (prior to LSU’s matchup against UCLA, “journalist” Ben Bolch described Reese’s side as the “dirty debutantes” in a showdown of “good versus evil,” in a story that has since been scrubbed). Reese, who has served as the face of LSU’s team the past two seasons, admitted after Monday’s loss that she hasn’t been happy since winning the championship due to the overwhelming scrutiny she has received.
“I’ve been through so much,” Reese said. “I’ve seen so much. I’ve been attacked so many times, death threats, I’ve been sexualized, I’ve been threatened, I’ve been so many things, and I’ve stood strong every single time…I'm still human. All this has happened since I won the national championship, and I said the other day, I haven't been happy since then.”
When Vogue published an exclusive detailing her decision to go pro on Wednesday, I hope Angel Reese was happy.
The move was an homage to Serena Williams, who famously announced her retirement via an editorial spread in the same publication in 2022. It feels perfect for Reese, whose love of fashion and ever-impressive game-day looks earned her the nickname the Bayou Barbie. There would be no poorly-made Canva graphics posted to Instagram that led with a heartfelt “[insert name of school] nation,” and no under-the-radar press conference announcement. Or, in her own words, “Of course, I like to do everything big. I didn’t want anything to be basic.”
In the exclusive, Reese dons the likes of Christian Louboutin, Diesel, Swarovski, Wales Bonner, Valentino and more. The portraits were captured by Myles Loftin, the high-fashion photographer whose work centers on both Black subjects and the designs of Black creatives. It is an editorial worthy of the moment and all that Reese has accomplished to get her to this point; efforts that have made her, in the opinion of Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, “probably the greatest athlete to come out of LSU sports,” male or female.
Angel Reese is a 2023 National Champion, two-time All-American, 2024 SEC Player of the Year, 2023 winner of the ESPY for the Best Breakthrough Athlete, 2023 BET Sportswoman of the Year and the 2023 Sporting News Athlete of the Year. She’s collected not only accolades but brand deals from the likes of Beats by Dre, Amazon, and Goldman Sachs, making her one of the highest-earning athletes of the NIL era.
She racks up rebounds with the help of her eye-catching manicures and stares down her opponents with her signature long lashes. She simultaneously describes herself as a “girly girl” and “killer on the court,” because she is. “I don’t have to be in a box,” she told writer Leah Faye Cooper.
Announcing her aspirations to be a professional athlete via Vogue as opposed to ESPN is just the latest example of the multidimensionality of Angel Reese. By being unapologetically herself and expressing her style both on and off the court, she’s shown girls everywhere that they can do the same. It’s an accomplishment that can’t necessarily be quantified or labeled like setting the NCAA single-season record in double-doubles can, but will undoubtedly be the most important legacy that the Bayou Barbie will leave behind.