Orlando Pride’s ‘Highway Woman’ kit for the 2023 season draws inspiration from the work of Mary Ann Carroll, also known as The First Lady of the Highwaymen.

The Florida Highwaymen were a collective of African-American artists that sold paintings out of their cars throughout the state during the Civil Rights Movement. Due to racial segregation laws, Black artists were not allowed to have their works displayed in galleries. The Highwaymen took to the interstate, selling their art in cities up and down the Florida coastline. Carroll was the only woman of the trailblazing group, and her legacy lives on in vivid, colourful landscapes.

The Pride’s kit reintroduces the all-purple uniform, mimicking Carroll’s high-contrast paintings with a dark purple base covered in airy brushstrokes in a lighter shade. The bottom of the shirt features a Royal Poinciana tree emblem – Carroll’s favourite tree and a recurring motif in her landscapes – along with the artist’s signature.

The kit was unveiled at the club’s ‘Queen of the Road’ event at a gallery in Parramore, Orlando’s oldest historically Black neighbourhood. The entire Pride roster was in attendance, as well as Carroll’s daughter, Wanda Renee Mills. Alongside the kit, some of Carroll’s paintings and items from her personal collection were on display. The kit is available to purchase now on the club's website.

Get a closer look at the ‘Highway Woman’ kit and Mary Ann Carroll's art below.