Serena Williams‘ illustrious career and strong personality always inspire tennis fashion designers and for the sport’s most prestigious tournament in London the American 23-time Grand Slam champion will wear a knit-textured dress embellished with a sewn Swoosh brooch made with Swarovski crystals.
Nike remains candid about Serena’s dress design, but we do know the story behind the Swarovski-studded detail nicknamed “the Broosh” — it features 34 crystals which represent the age at which Serena won her most recent Wimbledon in 2016.
Abby Swancutt, Global Design Director for NikeCourt, was inspired by decorative jewelry from past generations:
I also wanted her to feel like it was something her grandmother could have worn, but of course give it a modern spin and make it just right for Serena.
Even though this is Nike’s first Swarovski crystal Swoosh, the world’s most famous crystals are not a new glamorous detail in women’s tennis fashion — the freshest in my memory are Nike-sponsored Maria Sharapova’s black and light pink lace dresses designed by Riccardo Tisci for the 2017 US Open.
New white shoe that bears Serena’s logo is this Nike Flare 2 model. As Nike describes, the kicks combine speed and style with lightweight cushioning and a supportive lacing system. The shoes offer a sock-like feel, their rubber outsole is extra durable and the breathable mesh has a silky, shiny finish.
MORE WIMBLEDON 2019 FASHION:
- Stella McCartney’ eco-friendly Adidas apparel for Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza, Caroline Wozniacki
- Maria Sharapova‘s Nike Fall Maria London Seamless Dress
- Madison Keys shows knitwear-inspired NikeCourt whites
- Elina Svitolina presents her NikeCourt separates
- Julia Goerges‘ Asics Gel-Cool whites for London
- Ashleigh Barty & Timea Babos to wear the Fila Match Play collection, Kiki Bertens & Sofia Kenin pick the Lawn collection
- New Balance hits new fashion heights with Sorana Cirstea‘s Wimbledon dress
- Lotto‘s simple white racerback dress for London
- Karolina Pliskova to wear third capsule of Fila‘s special-edition P.L. Rolando collection
Why bring Maria “Washed Up” Sharapova in a topic about the GOAT, Serena Williams? And then the pics of Maria instead of Serena, truly ridiculous and shady! Serena’s never copied anything that Maria has ever done and I’m certain, never will. Really smart people who stay woke know who really tries to imitate whom (fists pumps, come on yells w/grimacing, lame attempts to copy the GOAT’s acing serve, dating Serena’s former boyfriend, publicly putting herself on the same level as greatness in women’s tennis…and the list goes on and on). Let’s keep it real & 100: Serena dominates Maria on every level; always has, always will. There is no comparison and never, ever will there be, so get over it. The washed up doper will never catch that Queen!
And by the way, big congrats to Ash Barty for her #1 ranking! Keep up the great work, champ!
Fee, I didn’t compare Serena and Maria, I compared Nike’s dresses, saying that this is not the first one that features Swarovski crystals. The post doesn’t include a photo of Serena because Nike hasn’t released one of her in her Wimbledon dress, we just got this sneak peek.
The crystals on a tennis dress also appeared in Venus Williams EleVen collection at the 2010 USOpen (in pink for her daytime matches and black for the night ones) so preceding the 2017 Maria dress by quite a few years. Just FYI.
PJ, you’re right, I remember now, thanks for the reminder. Those were some badly executed dresses.
Marija, you’re right. Some of the early fashion was a bit too out there and like any dressmaker, Venus took a while to learn to marry style with function for her line 🙂 The latest offerings have been really nice with the occasional oops.
Full disclosure, I’m a giant Venus fan and get really irritated by the other major brands following her leads without any acknowledgement. Maybe it’s just a case of EleVen being a boutique brand and can maybe get things to market sooner than larger brands (Nike, Lotto, Adidas, Asics, et al) rather than them copying her styles But that flowered dress on a black background had a couture look and then Lotto exploded with their version of the flowered dress. Nike giving 2017 Maria the pink and black crystallized dress sounds like it could’ve come from a production meeting where someone said “look at this 2010 mess Venus came up with. We can do better.” And perhaps they did but still…
Thanks for the article.
PJ, I like your observations about how Venus’ was the first one to introduce flowers, crystals, etc. I have to admit that it never crossed my mind that the leading brands could be copying EleVen, but now that I think about it, you could be right that V was paving the way for some design features that are common in today’s WTA fashion.