Nike’s Wimbledon ‘nightie’ – the most impractical sportswear ever?
Nike’s Wimbledon ‘nightie’ – the most impractical sportswear ever?
Players have criticised the £75 dress for being too revealing, and
getting in the way of their shots. It’s not the first time style has
trumped practicality at the All-England Club
Underwear scandals are common in SW19. Last year, it was the Canadian Eugenie Bouchard’s black bra strap; in 2014, retired men’s champion Pat Cash denounced pre-match underwear checks. And this year, it is Czech player Lucie Šafářová’s Nike tennis dress, which ballooned all game to expose her knickers.
Few things unite Wimbledon crowds (sorry, Andy) like a perceived slight against the tournament’s strictures. But, more to the point: why did Nike design such an impractical dress for the female players it sponsors?
This was, in fact, the second iteration of the £75 Premier Slam dress: Nike asked players to return it for alterations last week. Serena Williams and Sabine Lisicki have both reportedly refused to wear it. “I tried it on but didn’t feel comfortable showing that much,” Lisicki said. Poor 17-year old Katie Swan struggled with the dress during her defeat to Tímea Babos yesterday afternoon. Midway through, she tucked it into her shorts.
“Nike probably has departments devoted to wearer trials,” says Sally Dixon, the founder of activewear brand Every Second Counts. “I’m very surprised.” She is sympathetic to Swan’s frustrated mid-match alteration. “Players don’t expect to have to redesign kit to make it fit for purpose.”
Notoriously, Wimbledon’s code is the most difficult on the grand slam circuit. Intimidating guidelines demand competitors “be dressed in suitable tennis attire that is almost entirely white” as soon as they “enter the court surround”. They are reminded that “white does not include off-white or cream”. In 2013, Roger Federer was scolded because his shoes had orange soles. Moreover, women must negotiate the dynamic between style, propriety and functionality: brands, keen to appeal to female consumers chasing the athleisure trend, are most interested in the first. And it is virtually mandated that women playing at the elite level wear (very) small skirts – although at least they permit movement. In the 1920s, the French champion Suzanne Lenglen wore a ballooning midiskirt to play at Wimbledon. Admittedly, she also drank Cognac on court.
The obsession with outfits is surely a backhanded sexualisation of the women’s game. From Athena’s Tennis Girl poster to celebrated but undecorated pin-up Anna Kournikova, girls in tennis whites are fetishised, their bellowing grunts the subject of flip sexism. When commentators clocked Simona Halep’s breast reduction surgery, the British player Laura Robson was furious. ”You see what she can do with the ball,” she said at the time. “I don’t see how you can bring in boobs to the conversation.”
Anyway, Nike’s “nightie” clearly won’t do. What should tennis kit look like? “Fitted, for an increased range of movement,” suggests Dixon. “It should be second skin. What you wear should be the last thing on your mind.” Never so at Wimbledon.
Few things unite Wimbledon crowds (sorry, Andy) like a perceived slight against the tournament’s strictures. But, more to the point: why did Nike design such an impractical dress for the female players it sponsors?
This was, in fact, the second iteration of the £75 Premier Slam dress: Nike asked players to return it for alterations last week. Serena Williams and Sabine Lisicki have both reportedly refused to wear it. “I tried it on but didn’t feel comfortable showing that much,” Lisicki said. Poor 17-year old Katie Swan struggled with the dress during her defeat to Tímea Babos yesterday afternoon. Midway through, she tucked it into her shorts.
“Nike probably has departments devoted to wearer trials,” says Sally Dixon, the founder of activewear brand Every Second Counts. “I’m very surprised.” She is sympathetic to Swan’s frustrated mid-match alteration. “Players don’t expect to have to redesign kit to make it fit for purpose.”
Notoriously, Wimbledon’s code is the most difficult on the grand slam circuit. Intimidating guidelines demand competitors “be dressed in suitable tennis attire that is almost entirely white” as soon as they “enter the court surround”. They are reminded that “white does not include off-white or cream”. In 2013, Roger Federer was scolded because his shoes had orange soles. Moreover, women must negotiate the dynamic between style, propriety and functionality: brands, keen to appeal to female consumers chasing the athleisure trend, are most interested in the first. And it is virtually mandated that women playing at the elite level wear (very) small skirts – although at least they permit movement. In the 1920s, the French champion Suzanne Lenglen wore a ballooning midiskirt to play at Wimbledon. Admittedly, she also drank Cognac on court.
The obsession with outfits is surely a backhanded sexualisation of the women’s game. From Athena’s Tennis Girl poster to celebrated but undecorated pin-up Anna Kournikova, girls in tennis whites are fetishised, their bellowing grunts the subject of flip sexism. When commentators clocked Simona Halep’s breast reduction surgery, the British player Laura Robson was furious. ”You see what she can do with the ball,” she said at the time. “I don’t see how you can bring in boobs to the conversation.”
Anyway, Nike’s “nightie” clearly won’t do. What should tennis kit look like? “Fitted, for an increased range of movement,” suggests Dixon. “It should be second skin. What you wear should be the last thing on your mind.” Never so at Wimbledon.
Abuja High Court sacks
Ali Modu Sheriff as PDP chairman
Oluwatobi Bolashodun 1 hour ago 31655
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– An Abuja High court has sacked Ali Modu Sheriff as PDP’s national
chairman
– The court nullified the 2014 PDP constitution amendment upon which
Sheriff was appointed as the PDP chairman
– Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction is presently conducting the party’s
governorship primaries in Benin City for the Edo state governorship
election
The embattled national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Ali Modu Sheriff has been removed by an Abuja high court on Wednesday,
June 29.
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nazari
Ali Modu Sheriff
The court presided over by Justice Valentine Ashi (court 29), sacked the
party’s chairman from office by nullifying the 2014 PDP constitution
amendment upon which Sheriff was appointed as the PDP chairman.
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction is presently conducting a
governorship primaries in Benin City for the Edo state governorship
election.
READ ALSO: Modu Sheriff arrives Edo for fresh PDP guber primaries
Sheriff, a former governor of Borno state, was appointed as PDP’s
national chairman in the interim by the party’s stakeholders after
former deputy national chairman, Chief Uche Secondus from the South-East
was removed from the position of acting chairman based on the zoning
arrangement.
The 2014 amendment had purportedly zoned the office of the party
chairman to the North-East zone.
Read more: https://www.naij.com/876283-breaking-fct-high-court-sacks-senator-ali-modu-sheriff-pdp-chairman.html
Read more: https://www.naij.com/876283-breaking-fct-high-court-sacks-senator-ali-modu-sheriff-pdp-chairman.html
Abuja High Court sacks
Ali Modu Sheriff as PDP chairman
Oluwatobi Bolashodun 1 hour ago 31655
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Send email
– An Abuja High court has sacked Ali Modu Sheriff as PDP’s national
chairman
– The court nullified the 2014 PDP constitution amendment upon which
Sheriff was appointed as the PDP chairman
– Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction is presently conducting the party’s
governorship primaries in Benin City for the Edo state governorship
election
The embattled national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Ali Modu Sheriff has been removed by an Abuja high court on Wednesday,
June 29.
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
nazari
Ali Modu Sheriff
The court presided over by Justice Valentine Ashi (court 29), sacked the
party’s chairman from office by nullifying the 2014 PDP constitution
amendment upon which Sheriff was appointed as the PDP chairman.
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction is presently conducting a
governorship primaries in Benin City for the Edo state governorship
election.
READ ALSO: Modu Sheriff arrives Edo for fresh PDP guber primaries
Sheriff, a former governor of Borno state, was appointed as PDP’s
national chairman in the interim by the party’s stakeholders after
former deputy national chairman, Chief Uche Secondus from the South-East
was removed from the position of acting chairman based on the zoning
arrangement.
The 2014 amendment had purportedly zoned the office of the party
chairman to the North-East zone.
Read more: https://www.naij.com/876283-breaking-fct-high-court-sacks-senator-ali-modu-sheriff-pdp-chairman.html
Read more: https://www.naij.com/876283-breaking-fct-high-court-sacks-senator-ali-modu-sheriff-pdp-chairman.html
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