Sharapova, Williams sisters make own fashion statements

The Wimbledon tennis tournament swept into our collective consciousness like a storm. It's now over but for the duration, it combined the makings of a fashion show and a sports extravaganza.

Sharapova's unlucky tuxedo top

The Wimbledon grand slam tournament started with top seeded trendsetter Maria Sharapova surprising everyone by wearing shorts this year. She matched her "menswear-inspired" Nike outfit with a decidedly sexy, sheer top with a tuxedo "dickie" embellishing the front. With the matching white jacket and white shorts, she could as easily be on her way to lunch as to a championship match.

Her top was considered "sheer but still demure; for the athletic woman who wants to make every game an event."

To many, Sharapova's Nike outfit this year was a big surprise. Usually Maria presents herself on the court in the most feminine of tennis fashion that complements her long blond hair, long earrings and short, flirty skirts. Last year her white Wimbledon dress was inspired by Swan Lake. A frilly dress, it reminded one of a butterfly, or even a white swan. The dress was created with the tagline "Pretty Traditional," which represents its underlying beauty.

Players become lost in a crowd of competitors at Wimbledon, where everyone wears regulation white from head to toe. Some, like Sharapova, with her imposing height, unusual beauty and clothes sense, manage to stand out among the many.

Ironically, however, Maria Sharapova's pleated, sheer bib top outfit helped motivate her rival into giving her a drubbing. Fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva stunned the tennis set by trouncing Sharapova. Remarked Kudryavtseva sardonically after the match, "I don't like her outfit. Can I put it this way? It was one of my motivations to beat her."

The Williams sisters

The irrepressible Venus and Serena, on the other hand, showed up in Wimbledon to make both fashion and tennis statements.

Serena Williams warmed up in a chic, belted, white trench coat under cloudless skies, an outfit designed by Nike, as was Sharapova's tuxedo top. Serena knows whereof she speaks, particularly when she waxes eloquent about the value of making a statement of style. A fashion school grad, she has been quoted as saying that one of the best ways to do this is with clothing and make-up. Sister Venus packed the biggest fashion punch with a twist-front tennis dress from her own collection, EleVen. This piece is made available to shopper-fans at the fast fashion emporium Steve & Barry's.

Since 1999, the Williams sisters have been upending tennis fashion, starting with their hair beads. In 2003, Venus appeared in a corset dress designed by Diane von Furstenberg and Reebok.

For Venus later to model her own brand of cheap chic - which kept her tugging at the top to make sure it didn't reveal any more than she intended - meant only that Wimbledon has gone a long way since it began in 1877 as a sport of the Victorian elite.

As a blast from the past, nonetheless, Wimbledon remains one of the last bastions of a formal dress code, with dress whites de rigueur. In fact, any woman wearing a low-cut top can be ejected from the court.

Uncanny influence of tennis on women's fashion

In spite of its lofty, almost snooty, beginnings, tennis-like no other sport-has shown the world how to dress comfortably, yet in style.

Casual summer clothes consisting of tennis shoes, shorts and polo shirts used to be on-court apparel. Visionary fashion designers were introducing their sporty creations long before Nike, Adidas, Ellesse and other sports brands developed clothes as line extensions and signed player-endorsers to multimillion-dollar deals. Sportswear piggybacked on the popularity of tennis, nudging stiffness and formality from the fashion ramp, and eventually, daily dressing.

In its early days, Wimbledon confined women to long dresses with sleeves and stockings. Soon, players were not to be denied liberation from sartorial conservatism.

According to Diane Elisabeth Poirier's book "Tennis Fashion," twenties-era c hampion Suzanne Lenglen would emerge a style icon with her revolutionary attire. Designer Jean Patou made her a fashionably functional knee-length, pleated skirt and sleeveless cardigan. With this, Lenglen became the first woman to play without a corset under her tennis dress-truly daring for her time!

With inroads made by Patou, other high-fashion designers took to designing tennis apparel. These included Lanvin, Rochas, Schiaparelli and Hermes. Today, almost every major fashion brand relies on sportswear as a major pillar.

Soon, tennis stars and athletes became the original celebrity designers themselves. Fred Perry, who led the way, continues to be a well-known brand today. There was also a French player named Rene Lacoste, who was nicknamed "the Crocodile" for his fierceness, who.introduced in 1929 the collared shirt with its embroidered alligator logo that remains a tennis wardrobe staple for both men and women.

Trendsetter Lenglen herself became a designer when she retired from tennis.

When the 1970s came, players would be known more for their associations with giant sports footwear and apparel sponsors than for their distinctive, individual dress style. In the '80s and '90s, tennis would emphasize performance wear-second skin fibers and breathable fabrics-substance over style.

Wimbledon staff clad in Ralph Lauren designs

The female stars do not have a monopoly of setting style trends in Wimbledon.

In 2006, the American fashion brand, Ralph Lauren designed outfits used by all Wimbledon match officials including chair umpires, line judges and ball boys and girls.

The All England Club signed this exclusive deal, which runs through 2010. This marked the first time in Wimbledon's 129 year-history that a designer label was appointed to dress on-court officials.

Now, even Wimbledon staff can also turn heads and share the media space that used to be the domain of fashionable players.

Most likely, Sharapova's tennis tux wouldn't turn evening wear anytime soon, nor would Williams' tennis dress turn casual wear staple, nor would the RL-labeled officials' attire become regulation office wear. Nonetheless, it remains interesting to observe how players-and now tennis officials too-express themselves within the confines of an antiquated dress code.