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US Open 2010, Flushing Meadows, NY, USA
September 6, 2010
Editorial by Jane Voigt.
Jane Voigt |
The Important Stuff
September 6, 2010 -- Let's get right down to what matters -- clothes. More specifically, the outfits players are wearing at The U. S. Open.
First... Venus Williams, owner and designer of Eleven.
The elder Williams' sister ignited the international media in Paris at The French Open. She wore a black gussy Can-Can dress, which certainly connected with the locale. The outfit was a take off from the red one worn in Miami at the Sony Ericsson Open. No one paid particular notice to the striking posture Venus portrayed on court, wearing that dress this spring.
But, at Roland Garros, she earned kudos plus disparaging quotes for exposing what many thought was her derriere -- like really naked tennis -- right there on Philippe Chatrier Court, as she wore what was essentially the same dress with a twist.
But, on second, third, and millionth viewing, of thousands of shots flying around the Internet, we saw she had covered up with beige court shorts. They gave the impression of nudity, but didn't cross the boundary of hideously poor taste.
If Coco Chanel could had seen Williams, immediately following a serve, the couturier would have risen from her grave, marched onto Court Centrale and slapped Venus across the face, once on each cheek, with a pair of cream colored kid gloves -- after she had stepped on a stool to get a proper whacking angle.
Sacre bleu!
At the time, Venus was asked what she had up her sleeve for New York and the U. S. Open. Her lips were sealed. Wimbledon whites were first and she admitted she might move away from the risquŽ appeal of beige undies.
But, no. She did not. In her second evening match, out came Williams wearing a sparkly number full of glitter and glam, and fitting for her debut night match.
It's a wonder her opponent Qualifier Mandy Minella of Luxembourg didn't call a hindrance when stadium lights bounced rays of brilliance directly off the sequence on Venus's dress while, perhaps, Minella aimed for a down-the-line forehand winner. Chair umpires remind fans frequently not to use flash photography, during night matches. The reasons are obvious.
No hindrance was called.
Then, yesterday Venus comes out in the same styled dress but in red... or a toned down coral. By that time, fans were on the lookout. They suspected another fashion change. It was her fourth. Pam Shriver had asked Venus if she had seven separate outfits ready. Her answer was elusive. So, she might have them lined up. However, she has to get to the final to parade them.
Venus's dress isn't a dress, actually. It's a shell over sport shorts and sports bra. But, everyone knows that by now. The shell creeps up and up and ends scrunched around her hips, after intensive points that demanded running all which way.
The undershorts are beige with added design elements -- sparkly ones -- that mirrors the shell thereby playing down the urge of onlookers to condemn her as they had in Paris. How could they? These sport shorts are a seamless continuation of the 'dress' and artistically done.
Whatever were Venus's design objectives, she has once again caught the attention of clothing manufacturers preparing drawings for years in advance. Before they solidify their sketches, though, they should take a good look at the back of this dress and clean it up. Too many straps going this way and that for any real cohesive allure, and lasting sense of tennis fashion.
Bottom line... it's Venus.
In 1997, three years after turning pro, she showed up at the U. S. Open and made a run to the finals where she lost to Martina Hingis all the while Williams's hair beads bounced and swayed. She showed a flair for fashion from an early entrance. And for the next five years she reached the semifinals or better, winning the title in 2000 and 2001.
In most viewers' eyes, Venus can wear anything she wants. Several casual polls on the Internet told the story -- the dress is liked. We can opine all we want, and with the proliferation of bloggers we certainly do make our opinions known. But, in the end it's Venus Ebony Star Williams who has accomplished so much on court. Needless to say, at 30 she's made her way, once again, to the quarterfinals of another U. S. Open.
The Women's adidas by Stella McCartney Tennis Performance worn by Caroline Wozniacki at the U. S. Open this year is of a similar mold: a shell dress worn over a pair of canary yellow sport shorts and sports bra. You can go online and view how the dress/shell can be purchased separately with yellow undergarments or grey ones or white ones, lending a more unified experience for the onlookers and opponents... no women on tour check out opponents outfits during matches as important as the ones at the U. S. Open. But they must in the locker rooms.
Wozniacki is a young 20 year old. She loves fashion and shopping, at least that's how her bio reads on the Sony Ericsson WTA website. A couple years back, Stella McCartney's line of adidas tennis wear was worn by Maria Kirilenko. When Kirilenko's profile waned, due to poor results on tour exacerbated by injuries, the people at adidas offered the contract to Wozniacki.
Her U. S. Open outfit is designed for the few and fit. It is built for darting speed, quick stops and abrupt turnarounds. Wozniacki really meshes with the design. Her youthful personality is reflected in the length of the dress, too, which from this columnist's point of view is too short.
Many will disagree and viva la difference, or however it's said in German, or Polish or Swedish, two of the languages Wozniacki speaks fluently. Since yellow is the most visible color to the human eye, fans and photographers and anyone, really, will first notice the length of the outfit and the under shorts. If that was a conscious design decision, and you have to believe deep down in your heart that it was because no marketing strategy would launch without a total once over on a hanger and on a player before it's paraded for public sale, and scrutiny.
Mind you, it all looks terrific on Wozniacki. The line is definitely not made with middle-age club players in mind. That's okay. They have tons of options to choose from. However, with all the bending and digging for balls Wozniacki did today in her victory over Maria Sharapova, a bit more length wouldn't have been so bad especially when she took that tumble later in the second set.
There Caroline lay, legs sprawled, arms out wide... on her back, trying to see if the ball went in. No one else was looking at where the ball went. At least Wozniacki had her eye on it.
Sharapova and Nike usually make the emphatic fashion statement at the Open. Remember her black glittery New York dress the year she hoisted the trophy, thanking "Daddy," who at the time still traveled with Maria? That was a captivating dress. But everything she wears looks marvelous.
On the men's clothes, there's not much you can do with a pair of shorts and a shirt. Select an off color. Enhance it with tucks. Cut off the sleeves. Use plaid material. But men probably don't mind, one way or the other, as long as they are presentable and clean.
Roger Federer is the classic guy. Rafael Nadal the gritty one. Andy Murray's blue and white adidas togs fit his frame and temperament. But Novak Djokovic's Sergio Tacchini's selection is too much noise.
The Italian designer certainly wanted to express its sentiments for Sergio's initials, flowing the first initial over a shoulder of the polo and around one leg of the shorts. At first glance, and if you didn't know he played for Sergio Tacchini, fans could easily have thought Novak was wrapped in a snake. The hat, too, could prove that theory.
Today, though, Djokovic proved that the clothes don't make the man when it comes to winning at a major. Dragon wear or no dragon wear, Djokovic pulled the rug out from under American Mardy Fish's hopes in three quick sets, demonstrating again why Djokovic is #3 in the world. He has now advanced to his fourth consecutive U. S. Open quarterfinal.
As a final note... None of what you read had any real basis in objectivity. Frivolous subjectivity explains it all. No one was queried. A statistician wasn't contracted to spin statistics and cast a regression analysis. It was just for fun.
As if you didn't know.
[3] Novak Djokovic (SRB) {white and brown shirt} d [19] Mardy Fish (USA) 63 64 61
[5] Robin Soderling (SWE) d [21] Albert Montanes (ESP) 46 63 62 63
Earlier Coverage from this Event:
September 5, 2010 US Open: Seeing The Light - Rafael Nadal, Gilles Simone, Fernando Verdasco, David Nalbandian, Francesca Schiavone, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
September 4, 2010 US Open: Favorites - Mardy Fish, Arnaud Clement, Maria Sharapova, Beatrice Capra, Jurgen Melzer, Juan Carlos Ferrero
September 3, 2010 US Open: The Virtual U.S. Open - Ryan Harrison, Sergiy Stakhovsky, John Isner, Marco Chiudinelli
September 2, 2010 US Open: Way Below The Radar - Roger Federer, Caroline Wozniacki, Kai-Chen Chang, Andreas Beck, Robin Soderling, Taylor Dent
September 1, 2010 US Open: The Word - Andy Murray, Lukas Lacko, Venus Williams, Rebecca Marino, Gael Monfils, Igor Andreev
August 31, 2010 US Open: What's Age Got To Do With It? Arnaud Clement, Marcos Baghdatis, Novak Djokovic, Mardy Fish, Jan Hajek, Viktor Troicki
August 30, 2010 US Open: And Away We Go - Melanie Oudin, Kim Clijsters, Andy Roddick, Olga Savchuk, Greta Arn, Stephane Robert
August 29, 2010 US Open: Who's In, Who's Out
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