Stars show their fashionable stripes at US Open
Clothing manufacturers go all out in battle for bragging rights
From Maria Sharapova helping design her latest little black dress to Alexander Zverev being reluctant to pull down his tube socks, US Open fashion statements are drawing plenty of attention.
It’s a battle of clothing manufacturers Nike and adidas with world-class action models displaying their style on the court and purchasers, not points, deciding the big apparel winners and losers.
Former world number one Sharapova made a triumphant Grand Slam return after a 15-month doping ban by downing second-ranked Simona Halep and was to next face Hungary’s Timea Babos in the second round yesterday.
“Behind this little black dress and the Swarovski crystals, there is a girl with a lot of grit and she’s not going anywhere,” Sharapova vowed to the crowd after Monday’s victory. The sequin-spangled onyx frock with the Nike swoosh came from Sharapova’s work with Italian fashion designer Riccardo Tisci.
“I got to personally meet Riccardo,” she said. “It was an incredible experience because just me and him sitting at my dining room table at my house just talking inspiration, lace. He was still working at Givenchy at the time.
Vogue magazine reported the dress is priced at $500 (Dh1,836) with a matching jacket selling for $700.
“It was always going to be black. It wasn’t even a question of what we were going to do for the night matches,” Sharapova told Vogue, citing the colour she wore when she won the 2006 US Open crown, one of her five career Grand Slam titles. “It was very special to design an outfit for an athlete playing on the courts,” Tisci told Vogue.
On the other end of the spectrum in colour and motif is the adidas line designed by musician Pharrell Williams.
Colourful retro throwbacks
His 1970s-inspired retro look with colours will serve as the attire of several players, including Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, the reigning Wimbledon champion, France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Germany’s Zverev, whose look was somewhat nerdy in his opening match with his white tube socks stretched high upon his legs.
“Pharrell Williams, who was sitting in my box in the beginning of the match, designed my outfit,” Zverev said after his opening victory over 168thranked Darian King of Barbados.
Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza told Vogue she loved the knitted minidress with knee socks.
“It’s retro and she said. it’s a throwback,”