Opera singer Radmila Rory scores in NBA ballgown

Fashion & Beauty

by Janet Settembre

She's the MVP of courtside fashion.

Radmila Rory, 37, an opera singer, composer and designer who has performed at Carnegie Hall, gave fans a fashion twist by turning her XXL jersey into a ball gown and wearing it on the court at an NBA game. He solidified his position as a regular on the side.

“I started making my own performance costumes, and that's when I thought, 'I should start making my own custom clothes to wear to basketball games,'” Rory said in a post. told the paper.

Rory, who moved to Miami from New York in 2019, wore a custom red strapless made from the skirt of Miami Heat forward Duncan Robinson's jersey at the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinal game between the Heat and the 76ers. She became a hot topic when she wore a gown.

Since then, she has partnered with the Heat to sell jersey-inspired collections ranging in price from $250 to $490, and is currently working on a playoff collection.

“The first gown took four days, [the help of] There are three of us,” Rory told the Post.

She continues to incorporate the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers logos into her designs, and recently created a collection of University of Miami-inspired dresses, pants, and shorts for sale at the Hurricanes team store. .

Rory admits he wasn't interested in the NBA when he first arrived in Miami. But when she was asked to sing her national anthem at the halftime show, she decided to make the hardwood forest her runway.

She ordered 15 different player jerseys in XXL and began breaking them down, eventually using fabric that mimicked the look of the jerseys and printed with the Miami Heat logo. She eventually signed a deal with the team to sell her own designs at her Kaseya center.

“Every piece can be worn seven different ways,” she said of the versatile looks. She says, “You can unzip the waist and wear it alone as pants, or tie it with a top at the back and wear it as a romper.The top is also a reversible jacket.''

As a child, Rory sewed clothes for her dolls. She began vocal training in her teens and released her debut album, IV Stories at the Standard Hotel, in 2016.

That same year, her first clothing collection debuted at Fashion for Peace's “World Fashion Parade” held at Gotham Hall. Her looks have been worn by stars such as Gayle King, actress Nicole Ari Parker, and singer Bebe Rexha.

Rory performed with the Grammy Award-winning Scorchio Quartet at Carnegie Hall, but considers her career in fashion just as important.

“I just dressed like I always did,” she said. “I never imagined that my style would become so widespread. I created my own fan fashion.”