Love match of corsets and naughty nighties

Serena Williams of the U.S celebrates a point against Amara Safikovic of Switzerland during their women's singles match on day two of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London. During the Grand Slam event, Nike’s Premier Slam dress, which was slated to be won by Serena Williams, Sabine Lisicki and Katie Swan was slammed for being, according to The Guardian, “too revealing, and getting in the way of their shots.” (PHOTO: COURTESY/ AP)

This year’s Wimbledon was the tyranny of nighties. During the Grand Slam event, Nike’s Premier Slam dress, which was slated to be won by Serena Williams, Sabine Lisicki and Katie Swan was slammed for being, according to The Guardian, “too revealing, and getting in the way of their shots.”

It was reported that Serena and Sabine gave the dress a wide berth, while Katie had a tough time playing in it.

Writing in The Guardian, Phoebe Luckhurst called the dress a “nightie.” And, if you did not know its real purpose, you would think it was just that: a nightie. It can be best described as a mini-dress, which barely goes past the player’s butt. A dress should aid a player’s game. Not so for this nightie.

It was reported that, midway through Katie’s game, obviously exasperated by the way the dress was getting in her way, she unceremoniously tucked the darn spoiler into her shorts.

Wimbledon is not just a big stage for top-seeded tennis players, but also a humongous advertising platform for giant sports apparel makers such as Nike. And as much as companies such as Nike try to toe the tough hemline, they also try to and push the envelope.

And sometimes, in their quest to merge fashion with function, they mess up royally and cause the players they sponsor to have wardrobe malfunctions.

Apparently, Wimbledon is not all about tennis. Players do not go to the tennis court dressed in any garb. Players have a dress code. And the dress code is so strict that it reads like a Mosaic Law.

The 10 rules touch on every little detail, from colour to trim, referring “to all clothing, including tracksuits and sweaters, worn on The Championship courts both for practice and for matches.”

Orange soles

In Wimbledon, white is the colour of choice. All the dressing rules revolve around adherence to this colour.

There is even one that says: “Shoes must be almost entirely white, including the soles. Large logos of manufacturers are not encouraged. In particular shoes with pimples around the outside of the toes shall not be permitted. The foxing around the toes must be smooth.” Three years ago, Roger Federer caught the flak. His blunder, which in Wimbledon is more like a felony, was that his sneakers had orange soles.

Style rules like this mean that a player’s personal style, preference or experimentation take the back burner as soon as they step into a Wimbledon court. The Wimbledon dress code takes into account that, due to the intensity of a tennis game, there may be instances when a female player’s undergarment will be visible.

Rule number nine takes care of this inconvenience: “Any undergarments that either are or can be visible during play (including due to perspiration) must also be completely white except for a single trim of colour no wider than one centimetre (10mm). In addition, common standards of decency are required at all times.”

Kenyans like to think of themselves as a prude population. But what they do in their private spaces or under the guise of anonymity on social media is an entirely different matter. Rule nine would make Ezekiel Mutua to ban any Grand Slam event. Female tennis players have become accustomed to playing in risqué outfits.

But that has not always been the case. A look through the archives reveals that the dress code for female players has evolved from maxi dresses, which were worn in the 1884 to the calf-length skirt that was worn in 1890.

In 1905, May Sutton, the first American to win the women’s singles caused a stir by rolling back the cuffs of her dress, revealing her wrists. But she was not doing this to show her physique. She complained that the sleeves were “too long and too hot.”

Dorothea Chambers, a Briton who won Wimbledon seven times between 1903 and 1914, wore two or three stiff petticoats, as well as corsets.

It would take a French national to revolutionise the dressing style of female players and set it on a trendy trajectory. In 1926, French tennis player, Suzanne Lenglen wore a flimsy, revealing calf-length cotton frock with short sleeves. That was the game-changer.

Elizabeth Ryan, winner of 19 Wimbledon titles, gave Lenglen the props: “All women players should go on their knees in thankfulness to Suzanne for delivering them from the tyranny of corsets.”