Carlson: How did an OKC native & Millwood alum become Stephen Curry's stylist? Here's the scoop

Sherri McMullen has no idea what Steph Curry will do in the NBA Finals.

But she knows exactly what he’ll wear.

The Golden State superstar's outfits when he arrives at the arena for games will be McMullen creations. The Oklahoma City native is not a fashion designer but rather a buyer and stylist, and right now, she has no client more prominent than Curry.

Every time he’s photographed making a pregame tunnel walk in a look coordinated by McMullen, he gives her a shoutout on his Twitter account, which has 16.1 million followers.

“There’s a lot of planning that goes into it,” McMullen told me recently of styling the sharpshooter, “but he’s definitely very trusting.”

As the NBA Finals approach, everyone will be watching the guys dribbling the ball, wearing the short pants. The focus will be on guys like Curry and Klay and Draymond. But McMullen is a reminder these teams have branches spreading out in all directions, roots running this way and that.

So, how did an Oklahoman become a stylist to Bay Area basketball royalty?

McMullen says it started at Millwood.

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The youngest of six children, McMullen grew up on the east side of Oklahoma City in the 1970s and attended Millwood from kindergarten through 12th grade. Her dad was a police officer, her mom a real estate agent, so she had examples of success under her own roof. But attending a predominantly Black school added to her understanding of what was possible.

“I was surrounded by Black excellence from a very early age,” she said. “I knew that growing up and what that meant.”

Millwood is well known for its athletic excellence, but McMullen remembers being encouraged and pushed to be the best in everything. Academics. Music. Drama. Athletics.

She doesn’t remember anyone ever putting limits on what she might accomplish.

But when she went to OU for college, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life. She studied business and accounting.

“Because that’s what my dad said I should do,” she said with a laugh.

She had always been good with numbers, so she went along with that fatherly advice. But after a few years, she realized she needed to figure out what she wanted.

“What is my passion?” she thought.

She had fallen in love with fashion and retail in high school. She had worked a part-time job at Express in the mall, and everything about the job resonated with her. The work behind the scenes. The planning. The merchandising.

As a teen, though, she thought the only jobs in fashion were as a designer or in retail. Neither seemed like the right career path for her.

Then she discovered buying.

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Buyers choose what items are sold in stores. Consumers’ buying patterns must be analyzed, then choices of what to stock are made based on style, cost and potential profits.

“I could actually make decisions, use my business skills,” she said, “but still be in an industry that I loved.”

She spent three years living in Dallas and working as a buyer for Neiman Marcus, then she moved to the Bay Area to work for Williams Sonoma. It was launching the Pottery Barn Kids collection, and McMullen got to help build the identity for the new brand and create spaces inside Pottery Barn dedicated to the kids’ line.

That’s when she realized she wanted to start her own store in Oakland.

She opened McMullen in 2007.

A few years later, she moved to a different location, and not long after, an up-and-coming chef noticed the store. She decided to check it out and met McMullen. The two women realized they had a lot in common. Being entrepreneurs. Following their passions. Navigating industries without many minorities as Black women.

“We got to know one another just from her coming in,” McMullen said. “She was sort of starting her career in the cooking space, in the cooking world, and we were starting our career together. We developed a friendship, and I started dressing her for things.”

Ayesha Curry also happened to be married to one of the best young players in the NBA.

McMullen’s relationship with Curry deepened after she opened a restaurant nearby, then after both expanded and moved and expanded their businesses. McMullen added e-commerce in 2018 while Curry launched a magazine and lifestyle line called “Sweet July.” The women continued to support and encourage each other at every opportunity.

Earlier this year when Steph Curry wanted to highlight Black designers with his outfits during Black History Month, McMullen got the call.

She has long filled her store with work from underrepresented corners of the design world, so McMullen embraced the opportunity to style him.

“And then it just continued,” she said, “and here we are, dressing him for the playoffs.”

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McMullen had made a name for herself before she started styling Steph Curry. She’s been written about in Vogue. She’s been featured on podcasts.

But the exposure that comes with Curry’s stardom has only added to McMullen’s profile.

“Being an entrepreneur, I’m always thinking about what’s next,” she said, “and sometimes people have to remind me to just take this moment to appreciate where I’ve gone, where I once was and where I am today.”

She had an opportunity to do that a week or so ago.

Millwood is celebrating its 50th year, and during a black-tie gala, McMullen was honored as one of 50 Famous Falcons.

And as you might expect, she was dressed to impress. She paired a slim black top with a voluminous green patterned skirt from her favorite designer, Christopher John Rogers. But McMullen admits a stylist styling herself can be difficult.

“I packed myself five different looks,” she said. “It’s like, ‘One of them is going to work.’”

Seems the same can be said about just about everything she is doing these days.

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

NBA Finals

CELTICS AT WARRIORS: Game 1 at Chase Center in San Francisco, 8 p.m. Thursday (ABC)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: NBA Finals: Stephen Curry's pregame outfits styled by OKC native