As the most elegant sport, tennis has had a long-lasting effect on fashion, and continues to be a constant reference on top catwalks. As the women’s tournament begins at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, here are some ubiquitous fashion that came from tennis — some may surprise you.
1. Tennis skirts
French couturier Jean Patou created quite a stir in 1919 when he designed a knee-length pleated skirt and top with exposed arms for tennis star Suzanne Lenglen. Until then, women wore ankle-length dresses with high collars and long sleeves. Patou has often been credited with building the foundation of sportswear design, with his contributions noted beyond just tennis. The tennis skirt has since seen many iterations and is still a fashion staple both on the streets and on the catwalk.
2. Tennis bracelets
At the 1987 US Open, tennis star Chris Evert, known for her style as much as her game — she has won 18 Grand Slam single tournaments in her career — was playing a long rally when her diamond eternity bracelet snapped and fell. Evert stopped the game and refused to play until the bracelet was found. It was, eventually. Ever since, all diamond bracelets have come to be known as tennis bracelets.
3. Stan Smiths
Anyone who claims to have even the slightest interest in fashion has owned a pair. Stan Smith sneakers were first issued in 1971 when Adidas approached the American tennis player, who was No 1 at the time, with the idea of creating his own branded shoe. It was to be the first letter tennis shoe. “It was considered high-tech,” Smith told the New York Times in 2015. “My shoe has these little studs on the bottom [offering improved traction].” Today, Stan Smith shoes has moved on from its sports utility to classic fashion item and attained icon status. It’s still one of the best-selling tennis shoes of all time.
4. Lacoste
French tennis player Rene Lacoste’s contribution to fashion is well-documented, and so was his development of the polo shirt in the 1920s. But not many people know that besides his on-court wins, Lacoste was a prolific inventor, and filed more than 20 patents in his life time. But it was his decision to compete in short-sleeved shirts, foregoing the traditional (and restrictive) long sleeves, that would become his best-known innovation. Following his retirement, Lacoste founded La Chemise Lacoste in 1933 and began selling his polo shirts, complete with the crocodile logo (he was nicknamed ‘the crocodile’ on court by the media). It would take a few decades before the brand broke into the US and by the ‘80s would become a brand associated with high status. The simple shirt’s blend of functionality and style has ensured its longevity and turned Lacoste into a million-dollar fashion house.
5. Fred Perry
In 1948, a retired Austrian football player and entrepreneur Tibby Wegner was travelling to Wimbledon to show the world a functional sweatband he’d invented. He bumped into Fred Perry — Britain’s first tennis player to win a ‘career grand slam’ at age 26 in 1935 — instead, and the rest, as they say, is history. The two decide to produce the sweatbands under the Fred Perry brand name, and then in 1952, polo shirts. They became a massively successful and took the brand global. Today, 60 years later, it’s still thriving. “Being a realistic man,” Perry wrote shortly before his death in 1995, “I have never worried about admitting that my name is better known worldwide not for winning Wimbledon three times, but because of Fred Perry shirts and sportswear.”
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Tickets to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships start at Dh55. Entry to the Tennis Village is free. More on dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com.
