After presenting all Ashleigh Barty’s Fila looks during her stellar season, I’ve decided to continue my 2019 Fashion Retrospections with Venus Williams and her own clothing brand EleVen, which has earned its place among sports apparel industry leaders by regularly releasing new and progressive collections. Don’t forget that Venus has an associate degree in fashion design from the Art of Design of Fort Lauderdale.
The American tennis legend opened her 25th pro season in Auckland, wearing the EleVen Morning Glory range, which combines colors lime popsicle, black, white and grey.
At the Australian Open, Venus debuted the Diva Dress featuring tropical printed blocks at chest and waist. It’s from the Caracas collection and the tennis ace matched it with a pink arm sleeve.
The collection created for the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells was called Ikat. In her opener, Venus opted for a Fila-like navy-and-white ensemble consisting of a short-sleeve polo and solid skirt.
On her way to the quarterfinals, we also got to see the Ikat Volley Dress, characteristic for its scoop neck and back, as well as a waist-defining blue inset.
EleVen is the most prolific WTA clothing company, with new collections coming out every few weeks. Right after Indian Wells we had the Miami Open and for that big tournament Venus had the Isola collection ready. During the prestigious event on her home soil, Venus promoted several looks.
Above we can see the American in the multi-strap Isola Vision Tank, with asymmetrical texture mesh hip inset, and a faux-wrap design of the Isola Vision Skirt, while below is a photo of her in the blue Isola Sunny Back Long-Sleeve Top that includes a large black colorblock on the back, a common detail in EleVen designs, and a matching Flutter Skirt.
Venus’ most controversial 2019 look was at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, when she wore a bustier-inspired Contour Tank from the Love Leopard collection, which she later also wore at Roland Garros.
In Paris, Venus opted for the Love Leopard Tank Top and Flutter Skirt — one of the more subtle looks from the overall bold collection that combines a dove grey animal print and limelight green highlights.
The 39-year-old wore the edgy animal print clothes during the grasscourt season in Birmingham as well.
At the Premier-level tournament in June, Venus played both singles and doubles, showing us more from the collection’s sharp green items, including these eye-catching shorts with leopard print compression power jersey shortie liner.
Wimbledon‘s first-round match in 2019 will stay remembered for the launch of the Cori Gauff phenomenon, as the 15-year-old American stunned five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in an encounter featuring the oldest and the youngest player in the draw.
For what may turn out to be a historic match in some way, Venus chose an all-white version of her Love Leopard Pounce Dress, featuring crossed spaghetti straps at upper back and lining highlight at the chest.
At the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, the former world No.1 debuted the Bonita collection, in particular the strappy Bonita Avail Tank, with contrast inserts at hips and center back, and the color-blocked Bonita Elevate Swing Skirt.
In Toronto, she paired the same tank with the solid navy Essential Flutter Skirt.
What’s interesting is that the Bonita collection is EleVen’s first to use Diamond Fuze Technology — basically, diamonds are crushed and fused into fabric which creates a protective barrier against bad odors, sweat, helps with temperature control and UV protection, while the best thing is that it doesn’t wash off over time and use.
Halter necklines are ever more present in the WTA fashion and this EleVen Bonita Aria Dress that Venus wore in Cincinnati shows how well that silhouette works on the tennis court.
The Phoenix collection was introduced at the US Open. While most tennis apparel companies incorporated elements inspired by New York City, with her Phoenix Volley Dress, Venus decided to celebrate the bird that arises from the ashes.
The Flashes collection marked Venus’ Asian Swing this year. Here we can see her at the China Open, sporting the Flashes Raceday Tank, an all-over print design featuring a pleat on the mid-back.
EleVen is not resting in the off-season. Venus may not be playing tournaments, but she’s releasing new stuff — she’s recently launched the Iman collection (the word means “belief” in Islamic theology). Talking to Bustle, Venus explained:
My Iman collection is the perfect visual embodiment of intermittent bursts of speed and moments of rest. The streamlined color-blocking combined with a punchy geometric pattern reflects the speed of our lives but also the need to take a breath every once in a while.
As I showed you in my preview of Venus Williams’ EleVen gear for the second half of 2019, the American’s last collection this year will be Oiseau, inspired by birds flying in the sky. I expect that Venus will wear the Oiseau range at the start of 2020.
Marija, any rumours for 2020 tennis fashion? Will Stella design for slams?
Generally I like Venus’s designs, and I love the Iman in particular. She uses interesting prints and combines them in an interesting and tasteful way with plain colours. But I don’t understand why she has this thing about spaghetti straps. They are only suitable for someone who is flat chested like she is, and they don’t provide for allow for enough support for anyone with a bit more up top. You can see when she is playing she’s always pulling her top up and so it’s obviously not working even for her.
Melxir, I still have no info on the 2020 WTA Fashion. It’s too early still.
CLT, she apparently likes to wear spaghetti straps. All her collections offer a variety of styles of tops, spaghetti straps are not the only option.