Alana Haim explains how her custom Knicks-game shirts came to life—starting with a text from Taylor Swift—and shares how “extras” helped bring Mariska Hargitay into the pun-filled moment at the NBA finals.
On the Knicks-game buzz this week, the shirts weren’t just a fun detail—they were the whole conversation.
Alana Haim. 34. wore a “Knickole Kidman” tee. her sister Este stepped out in “Knickleback. ” and their BFF Taylor Swift sported a “Stevie Knicks” shirt during game four of the NBA finals. Mariska Hargitay and Sombr also wore the same kind of shirt as Taylor. turning a DIY idea into a full-on finals-day uniform.
In a new interview with Vogue, Alana walked through how she makes these shirts and what kicked everything off. She described the process as something she does for her friends—she has people come over and asks if they want to make shirts. calling it her creative outlet. “I love making shirts for my friends; I have my friends come over all the time. and I’m like. ‘Do you want to make shirts?’ It’s my creative outlet. ” she said. “I can’t paint. I wish I could paint, but I can’t. But I figured out how to screen print… I have like a little setup at home.”.
Alana also explained the tools behind the look. She uses a Cricut—described as “this precision vinyl and paper-cutting printer”—to cut the vinyl. place it on a screen. then apply screen-printing paint with a squeegee. She said she’d been eager to try a “puffy additive” for a long time. and that the shirts used a puff-paste effect that made the whole process especially fun.
The pun names didn’t start in her workshop—they started with a text from Taylor. Alana said she got a message that she described as the exact prompt she’d been hoping for as a screen printer. “I got a text from Taylor that was really the text that you want to get as an amateur screen printer. ” she said. laughing. She told Vogue Taylor said. “I want to wear this shirt to the game. can you make it for me?” Alana answered like a fan and a friend at the same time: “I was like. ‘I thought you would never ask. this is my dream.’”.
From there, the session turned into pun brainstorming. “Whenever I start out a session with a friend. I go: ‘Let’s talk about puns. let’s talk about sizing. ’ and [Swift] came up with Stevie Knicks. ” Alana explained. “We were kind of going back and forth with these puns; we really just wanted to have fun. because we were so excited that we were going to the game. and I thought it would make people laugh. so we put them on shirts and all decided to wear them.”.
The day at the arena also brought in a familiar face from Broadway. Mariska Hargitay famously ran to the game after finishing her Broadway show. Every Brilliant Thing—and she ended up wearing a shirt too. Alana says it wasn’t a coincidence. “Alana says she ‘always brings extras’,” the interview notes, and she shared why that mattered. “Taylor really wanted to bring extras so we could give them to friends,” Alana said. “And Mariska was so down; she’s such an amazing human being. and I’m such a big fan of her. so the fact that she also wanted to wear one of my shirts was insane.”.
She added that the moment felt bigger than styling for a game. “It really bonded us all together. I’ve never hugged someone more than at that game,” she said. “It was such an incredible game, so I was really happy that we had brought extras.”
Alana Haim Taylor Swift Knicks NBA finals custom shirts Mariska Hargitay Cricut screen printing Vogue Knickole Kidman Knickleback Stevie Knicks Sombr