Tennis court or catwalk?

Blame the ‘70s, blame the society I grew up in, the programmes I watched, the books and magazines I read and the stylish people who surrounded me. Blame it on my laziness. Blame it on all these things if, since I was a young girl, I considered tennis outfits as something to wear at cocktail parties rather than on a proper tennis court. But, between the end of the ‘70s and the early ‘80s, most of the people who would buy Sergio Tacchini and Lacoste’s sportswear in Italy weren't necessarily into any sport, but wore the stuff as leisure/holiday wear. You could in fact wear tennis apparel to go out in the afternoon on a sunny summer day or to go to the beach. This was a fashionable rule, but it was also dictated by necessity: tennis was considered as an elite sport and if you couldn’t have access to it, you wanted at least to copy the style.

Following the trend, my aunt turned into one of the first Lacoste counterfeiters and fashioned a tennis skirt in piquet fabric based on Elsa Schiaparelli’s divided tennis skirt. She then applied on it the infamous Lacoste crocodile, cut out from an old polo that belonged to my brother. Obviously, I never used the skirt to play tennis, but to engage in what I thought were more pleasant activities and, once the skirt had served its purpose and it didn’t fit anymore, my aunt and I resumed the counterfeiting activity, this time removing the crocodile from the skirt to apply it somewhere else.

Over 20 years have passed since my aunt’s diabolical but rather successful first experiment in sportswear counterfeiting, and over 70 years have gone since Schiaparelli created the divided tennis skirt for Lili de Alvarez, that skirt that, anticipating the shorts, had the power to shock the world of tennis at Wimbledon. Throughout these decades, tennis apparel radically changed: we have seen neon or bright coloured outfits on the court; Swarovski crystals sparkling on beautifully cut dresses; tight fitting tank tops and knee-high boots. But it’s only in this edition of Wimbledon that glamour has finally reappeared on the court.

As I said, I‘ve never been a sportswear fan, or rather, I like stylish sportswear only if worn at non-sport-related events. This also means that I have a natural aversion for the most common sportswear companies. My aversion is actually mainly linked to particular brands exploiting cheap labour in Third World countries. I’ve never been a Nike fan, for example, yet I must admit the outfit they did for Maria Sharapova caught my attention. The white sleeveless top with a tuxedo-style bib looks very ‘30s, while the shorts remind of Pierre Balmain’s bloomers designed for Gertrude "Gussie" Moran in the '50s. The warm-up outfit is also interesting as it looks like a piece inspired by London’s bespoke tailoring history and it features a very simple and classic tuxedo jacket and matching trousers. Sharapova’s outfit might not have brought her too much luck, but it allowed her to move comfortably on the court and perform at her best while it also followed the new trends (remove the Nike swoosh and you could wear the outfit at a formal party).

But Sharapova hasn't been the only glamorous player in Wimbledon. A few days ago Roger Federer dared stepping onto the court in a cardigan, though it’s his white blazer and trouser suit that really give him that genuine Old Wimbledon charm.

So if Sharapova’s suit brings back old world glamour “Atonement” style, Federer looks like a crossover between "Brideshead Revisited", Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and a male model strolling down the catwalk at Milan’s men’s fashion week.

Nike has made Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams’ individual outfits available at its shops and on its site, but, don’t worry, I won’t be rushing to buy any of them. I might instead be rushing to see the “Fashion V Sport” exhibition when it opens at the Victoria and Albert Museum in August. The exhibition, which is accompanied by a very interesting volume edited by Ligaya Salazar, curator of Contemporary Programs at the V&A, will showcase creations by designers who took their inspirations from sports and outfits created by global  sportswear brands. In the meantime, my aunt and I might resume our sportswear counterfeiting activity, possibly concentrating on copying stylish tuxedo-like tennis apparel.

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