The WNBA as A Living Fashion Archive with Hypatia Sorunke

What does it mean to be a WNBA fan, and can we find the answer in fashion? I talked with digital media artist and archivist Hypatia Sorunke about A Women’s Basketball Fashion Archive, a project focused on documenting the expression of the global community of people who love women’s basketball. The premier project, “The Fitted W,” chronicled 1500+ archival film photos at 50+ games in 12 major cities across the United States. We get into queer community, the politics of visibility, how fandom cultures evolve, and why that jean jacket covered in defunct team patches found in Connecticut is basically a primary source. What are the best-dressed WNBA cities? The Worst? Yes, we get into it. I also share my feelings about the CT Sun moving to Houston, which I'm handling totally fine.Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney Get the weekly newsletter and biweekly podcast episodes FREE! For $5/month, get ad-free episodes, a monthly bonus episode, a weekly newsletter of pop culture recommendations, and more! Timestamps0:00 — Patreon announcements1:30 — Intro to WNBA fandom and what you'll see at a game7:39 — What is the A Women’s Basketball Fashion Archive and The Fitted W 10:15 — From the Great Migration to the WNBA: the research origin story15:33 — What makes WNBA fan spaces different17:26 — What Hypatia found traveling to 12 cities in 202421:17 — Fan fashion: homemade merch, vintage jerseys, and the fangirl vs. fashion spectrum27:28 — Gatekeeping, the Caitlin Clark effect, and the Don't Be a Cheryl shirt38:17 — The politics of team ownership, Indiana, and racialized history41:39 — Connecticut Sun feelings (mine, specifically)48:55 — Can fan culture keep the W from going fully corporate?54:13 — Best and worst dressed cities (we went there)1:05:40 — What this project is really about: documenting marginalized joy1:08:31 — The Fitted W as book: why Hypatia refused to just make a photo dumpTranscriptFull episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TB_xImPdbGFGx9JEffdfV8kwiSoDY9pRXin3HcWnbI8/edit?usp=sharing Connect with Mary:Website: www.marymmahoney.comInstagram: @mimimahoneyEmail: [email protected] with guest Hypatia Sorunke — digital media artist and archivistA Women’s Basketball Fashion Archive: https://www.awomensbasketballfashionarchive.com/info The Fitted W (lookbook) — https://notesofhype.bigcartel.com/product/the-fitted-w Hypatia's Vogue piece on the 2024 WNBA Finals — https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/i-traveled-to-40-liberty-games-this-season Hypatia's essay via Barnard —https://zines.barnard.edu/news/sport-organizing-black-action-heroine-hypatia-sorunke Hypatia on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/itshypatia/ Follow the FittedW:https://www.instagram.com/fittedwbb/ Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other pop culture and history lovers find Landline.Sponsor Message: Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb )  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.