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Logan's Style Watch
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VENUS AND SERENA, STICK TO WHAT YOU KNOW BEST!
by Logan Bentley Lessona
ROME, 26, 2001 -The other day I came across an article in an old Time magazine about the Williams sisters, stars of the women's professional tennis tour, and their ambitions to become fashion designers. Time's Joel Stein, who is a very perceptive and funny writer (and kinda cute, too, according to his photo in Womens Wear's "W"), was allowed to spend a day with them at their fashion school in Fort Lauderdale.
The sisters told Joel that they weren't interested in designing active sportswear, but rather Venus aspired to design ready to wear and Serena chose evening wear. They also seemed to feel that since they can afford to buy and wear fashionable clothes that qualifies them to become successful clothes designers.
Well, girls, I've got news for you - if you think tennis is tough and full of rivalry, jealousy, spitefulness, envy, and so on, wait till you tackle the fashion ranks! And if you have dreams of succeeding, I wish you all the best, but if you really love fashion why don't you follow the advice often given to would-be writers: Write about what you know best.
Even if the girls are asked to design fashion lines for a manufacturer you can bet that it will be their names that are exploited and not their talent, assuming they have some (for fashion - we're not talking about hitting a tennis ball here). Worker bees will be assigned to design the lines, and the sisters to promoting them.
From what I see glancing at the sports pages and magazines it seems to me that Venus and Serena should concentrate on designing tennis clothes for their fellow players aqs well as amateurs. They know exactly what works and what doesn't work. In fact, they could start with their own gear, surely they can come up with more practical and attractive outfits than those furnished by their sponsors.
When all the tennis players wore pristine white the audience could concentrate on the game, and who really played best. Then back in the (fifties? - was it really that long ago?) designer Teddy Tinling decided to give a bit of pizzazz to the outfit he was making for Gertrude Moran, a player from the United States. He stitched a band of (gasp!) lace on the edges of the panties under her short skirt, and you probably won't believe this, but when she played it was "Shocking, shocking," as Claude Raines says in Casablanca! Headline writers immediately dubbed her Gorgeous Gussie (long before the wrestler Gorgeous George) and a star was born.
Controversial tennis wear was launched. Things stayed pretty quiet for years, although most tournaments dropped the requirement that costumes could only be white. But as the big multinationals like Reebok and Addidas and Nike began sponsoring sports events and players, clothes the players' outfits were designed to make a statement and impact.
Italian editorialist Paolo Garimberti recently wrote: "What's the point of a tennis player dressing like a strip-tease artist to the point where spectators are more intent on when her bra will be pulled down to show a nipple (as happened to one of the Williams sisters) than how she'll play the next point?........At the recent Australian Open the supportable limit was passed by the sponsors and manufacturers who transform the women players into vulgar pinups and the men in ridiculous mannequins."
He then points out that Martina Hingis, number one in the world, had to wear a silly one-armed outfit to please her sponsor "And it served her right that she was beaten by Jennifer Capriati, who has had more serious problems in her life and still wears traditional white." Garimberti adds that this system allows Anna Kournikova, who has yet to win a match in a major tournament, to be one of the best-paid women tennis players, because of her blonde good looks.
Venus Williams was persuaded by Reebok to wear an awful-looking outfit that consisted of a royal blue tank top over a dark blue mini skirt. For some reason, the genius who designed this number decided to add a skinny bra to the top of the tank, attached on either side, so that a two-inch strip of bare cleavage was bared. It must have been uncomfortable, and it looked really stupid. If Reebok wanted to take advantage of Venus' generous bosom and décolletage, they would have done better to simply design a simple low-cut tank top. But then we wouldn't be writing about it, would we.
So, my humble advice to the Williams sisters is to start their fashion career with a line of attractive, functional, easy-care tennis clothes for non-professional women that can be work with price to their local community center or country club, taking advantage of all the new developments in stretch and technical fabrics. With their knowledge and experience I'm sure such a line would be a hit, and add to the sister's bank accounts.
Fortunately the men's tennis shorts are still fairly short although some players have taken to wearing tight bicycle pants underneath that cover most of their thighs. I loved going to basketball games when the men like Bob Cousey and Bill Bradley wore shorts that were really short and not those baggy, droopy knee-length pants worn by today's players. I bet that if a losing basketball team imposed short shorts on its players their ticket sales would immediately double. But then short shorts are probably not considered "cool."
© 2001 Logan Bentley Lessona
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