Could Tennis style Be Serving More Than Just Looks?

Although sparked over a century ago, the flame between fashion and tennis is hotter than ever. Back in 2022, top luxury brands, including Celine, Miu Miu, and Louis Vuitton, harmoniously dropped tennis capsule collections followed by Thom Browne opening its St. Tropez tennis pro shop, which led up to the Vogue September issue being graced with The tennis-pro, Serena Williams. The trend has remained strong since, proving immune to the industry’s relentless demand for novelty, however this season received an added bootst from Zendaya’s highly-anticipated box office hit Challengers. Prefaced with a parade of iconic Law Roach press tour looks, instagram account Data But Make It Fashion reported that popularity of the look had increased by 80% this past March.

Influencer Morgan Riddle believes the heightened interest ultimately stems from the sports’ heritage of leisure and luxury. “The growth the last few years of on and off court fashion represents exactly what the girls want right now – sporty and chic, accessible but luxurious.” Notoriously associated with society’s upper classes, the sport was destined to cross path’s with luxury fashion’s clientele. The most recent hype however is likely a result of longstanding Editor in Chief of American Vogue, Global Director of Condé Nast, Anna Wintour’s personal affection for the sport. As a wealthy business woman in media meanwhile a self-identified fan and amateur player, it makes sense that Wintour would value the style, push it down the runway, and let it trickle down to the masses. Yet, despite tennis aesthetic being both timeless and practical, because of the sport’s roots in classism only 20% of Americans follow the professional league while 7.7% actually play the game. All things considered, what insight could be found within the trend?

From the royal court to the tennis court, what role does fashion play?

When describing the political culture of Victorian England in his book The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century, author John Brewer writes:

Royal courts were centres of national power, arenas where the struggles and alliances between monarchs and nobility were played out. Increasingly, as kings tried to reduce the military might of their most powerful subjects and as nobles came to accept humanist ideas that valued learning and taste as much as martial prowess, courts became centres of culture and refinement.

Being that the sport of tennis was being elevated into high society during this time, the nobleman Brewer speaks of extended such, if not seemingly more progressive, expectations of civility into the social realm through recreational competition. Albeit private to the upper classes, the first tennis clubs welcomed women as both fans and players before they held the right to vote, contrary to football, basketball, or baseball. Perhaps in light of tennis matches being among the first occasions for both sexes to interact, or because fashion by definition is a key feature of both culture and manners of behavior, a standard of dress was strictly enforced. Intended to keep players cool and to hide sweat stains, traditional tennis uniforms were required to be all white but allowed for personalization with tailored separates, knitted textures and accessories.

President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie O

Over time, the sport’s all-white image came to project a symbol of classism. Robert J. Lake, author of A Social History of Tennis in Britain, told Time magazine that “the white symbolizes purity and virtue, reflecting the self-perceptions of the class from which tennis derived most of its players.” Tennis being an unforgettable hobby of former president Trump, a symbol of abundant wealth and status, the look falls in line for conservative consumers who vote less in favor of economic regulation and are less socially permissive. While not completely off-brand for the left, today, the trend could present as a compromising look for traditional liberals who are known to vote in favor of economic regulation meanwhile are more socially permissive.

Leading up to the 2020 election, Women’s Wear Daily reported the stark divide between the public-facing fashion creatives and celebrities who ‘tend to swing blue’ versus retail executives, who typically support the right. Much like the fashion system, Democrats have historically been divided in regard to economic policy compared to Republicans, which overtime, has weakened the party’s reputability and morale. Today, months away from the 2024 election, Pew Research reports noticeable differences in regard to age and income with younger Dems being more likely to view the state of the current economy negatively. Recently exhibited in the response to Biden’s re-amped  tax proposal, which protects families earning less than $400,000 from tax increases, Democrats have yet to distinguish what it means to be “rich” versus “hard-working.” So what image does tennis style project at a time like this?

there is unity in uniformity

Although Wintour only officially rules the luxury fashion sect, her influence reaches out to the masses through the long-standing “trickle-down” effect of the fashion industry. The fact that white clothing physically reflects light therefore projecting an enlarged perception of the wearer, it is clear why and how ancient cultures around the world adapted white clothing to symbolize spiritual purity. Initially an image reserved for a society’s royalty and/or spiritual and religious leaders, white fabric and ready-made clothing has since become increasingly accessible to the masses requiring us to adapt. With such honorable principles accessible to just about anyone, regardless of lived truth, perhaps the all-white ensemble has evolved moreso into an image of equality rather than hierarchy.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Having recently answered to her own accusations of greed, Wintour and her high fashion empire have publicly supported the Democratic party since Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate run and John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. This year, she has demonstrated her continued support by hosting a Biden/Harris fundraiser in March and attending the Broadway debut of “Snuff,” a musical about women’s suffrage. The show was produced by Clinton alongside Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai. During the fight for equal voting rights, women collectively adapted all-white clothing to evoke the same standard of human principle. Despite high maintenance, white fabric grew increasingly affordable in the twentieth century enabling the 1913 movement to transcend financial class and status. This moment was reiterated when Democratic women in the House of Representatives wore white to Donald Trump’s 2020 State of the union address (pictured left) in protest to his past and present treatment of women.

Again, tennis is a unique occasion that simultaneously acknowledges players as individuals meanwhile as part of a broader unit, a team. Rather than adapting a fully standardized uniform, players are able to explore their personal identity within a common framework of traditional color and style. Whether it be Wintour’s agenda or complete coincidence, could something as simple as white clothing being this season’s trend provoke us, as consumers, to exhale into basic wardrobe staples meanwhile physically see our individual selves as an integral part of a broader entity.

going forward, Could tennis-core serve to EMULATE A More united america?

As mentioned earlier by Riddle, the thought of trending fashion being both “accessible and luxurious,” seemed paradoxical decades ago but the fashion system has since extended the idea of high class and luxury to the mainstream. Fashion executives have increasingly utilized accessibility as a survival tactic, rather than an act of graciousness, as they increasingly fall mercilessly to consumer desire in terms of what actually sells. As trend cycles have accelerated to incomprehensible speeds, consumers are growing more and more fatigued making the basics, timeless and versatile clothing, a safe bet.

With this, many will argue fashion has grown monotonous and boring (which it has) but I do believe there is value in perception. The tennis-core “trend” offers consumers a common and practical starting point, a respective template for any individual to customize as they see fit which serves both themselves and their surrounding community. An example of this can be seen with French tennis brand Lacoste’s return to Paris Fashion Week this past spring. Models strutted in tailored pieces and pleats of modern proportions juxtaposed with athleisure and graphics, all reimagined in vibrant color. Coming from the heritage tennis brand, the collection felt like an encouragement to release outdated visions of tradition.

In conclusion, while we all can’t be Zendaya, we all can look cute in a tennis outfit. Additionally I imagine style icon Cher Horowitz would approve this message.

Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz, Clueless (1995)