NEW YORK : From glossy magazine covers to generation-defining on-court styles, Serena Williams took a bow at the U.S. Open on Friday, having rewritten the fashion playbook for female athletes while building an empire of her own.
"Style and sport have always been closely intertwined, but no athlete embraced the power of fashion like Serena Williams," Katie Abel, executive editor of Footwear News, told Reuters. After organisers said they would ban the catsuit from their clay courts, Williams' supporters cried foul. Williams quipped to the Associated Press:"When it comes to fashion, you don’t want to be a repeat offender."
"Enter Serena and she pushed back against all this. I think she really rethought uniform standards for women in tennis." "From the moment Serena and her sister Venus stepped onto the court in their signature braids... they have been role models for Black women and aspiring female athletes everywhere," said Abel.Williams' friendship with late Louis Vuitton artistic director Virgil Abloh resulted in one of her most memorable U.S. Open ensembles, a ballerina-inspired Nike kit in 2018, when she got tantalisingly close to clinching a record-equalling 24th major title but came up short in the final.
"Williams may be retiring from tennis, but I’m guessing her influence on fashion is just getting started. Without her gruelling training schedule, I’d think she would have even more time and energy to focus on this category," said W Magazine Fashion Director Nora Milch.
You're a true legend