Serving Tenniscore: TikTok, Miu Miu and Zendaya
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What began as a TikTok micro trend, (#tenniscore has over 2.8M views) has blossomed into a multi-million-dollar retail success story. ‘Tennis Core’ can be described as a fusion of tennis players’ aesthetics and everyday looks. It's a perfect collaboration of modern leisure fashion and nostalgia. As reported in an article in The Guardian, “a younger generation are finding credibility and cool in its pleats, regardless of whether they have ever picked up a racket.”
Tracing the trend
To a certain extent, when it comes to their outfits, unlike in team sports, female tennis players can more or less exhibit their own individuality and flare. However, they can sometimes cause a commotion. Serena Williams was well-known for her ability to fire up stuffy governing bodies. When she wore a Wakanda-inspired black catsuit to win at Roland Garros in 2018, the French Tennis Federation went as far as to ban her from wearing it at future tournaments.
She was not the first player to raise hackles for a similar reason. Back in 1985, the American player Anne White ‘scandalized’ Wimbledon by wearing a white catsuit. She, too, was warned off of wearing it again. According to an article on the BBC website, at Wimbledon in 2017, during a break for rain, Venus Williams was asked to change because her fuchsia bra straps violated the All-England rule for white-only clothing.
Tennis-inspired looks on the runways 2022-2024
For her FW22 Miu Miu collection, Miuccia Prada set the proverbial tennis ball spinning, sending out numerous looks that included polo tops and pleated skirts. In the following four seasons, several designers followed suit.
Charaf Tajer, the designer of Casablanca, has promoted the ‘tenniscore’ look for a few seasons. Look 36 in his FW23 collection was a tennis-inspired white mini dress with a polo collar and red, black and green tipping and trim.
He showed a similar style for FW24. Look 37 was a white knit top and pleated skirt with green detailing and trim, styled with ‘Greek’ accessories. Two other designers showed tenniscore looks for FW24.
At Lacoste, designed by Pelagia Kolotouros, look 35 was a cable-knit v-neck cropped vest with green tipping and matching knickers under an ivory puffer coat with a green lining.
At Sandy Liang look 10 was a navy blue zip front jacket shown over a knit turtle-neck and a white pleated skirt.
Tenniscore At Retail
Cult brands Ganni and Sporty & Rich both released collaborations with heritage tennis outfitter Prince last year, while both Tory Burch and Reformation have all but sold out of their tennis-inspired activewear collections.
The Zendaya effect
As stated by Buzzfeed, during the PR tour for the soon-to-be-released movie ‘Challengers,’ Zendaya “has served up a slew of tennis-themed ensembles”. In the film, she plays Tashi, a pro tennis player who is forced to become a coach after being injured during a match. According to SilkFred’s head stylist, Megan Watkins, “Zendaya’s current press tour for ‘Challengers’ is giving us a masterclass on how ‘Tenniscore’ can be elevated and updated for 2024”.