Breaking down Serena Williams' Nike catsuit
The tennis player recently launched a fashion line of her own, aptly called Serena
Just when things were heating up at French Open professional tennis player
Serena Williams called off her Grand Slam comeback because of a chest muscle
injury on Monday. She was supposed to play Maria Sharapova in the fourth round.
Before this the 23-time Grand Slam champion made headlines last week with her
Black Panther-inspired catsuit by Nike which she donned at her victory match
against Kristya Pliskova in Paris. The reason for that outfit which she confessed
made her feel like a ‘Warrior princess’ had everything to do with her traumatic
birth of her daughter. She was quoted in The Guardian, "It feels like this suit
represents all the women that have been through a lot mentally, physically,
with their body to come back and have confidence and to believe in themselves.”
She even took to Twitter to show her support for all the mothers who had a tough
recovery from pregnancy.
Catsuit anyone? For all the moms out there who had a
tough recovery from pregnancy—here you go. If I can do it, so can you. Love
you all!! pic.twitter.com/xXb3BKDGNF
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) May
29, 2018
The black suit had a functionality element to it as it helped Williams deal
with the problems of blood clot. Nike in fact even came out with an article
titled ‘The Anatomy of Serena William’s catsuit explaining the functionality
of the fabric and the support it offers.
Williams has been a Nike athlete for over a decade. As a three year old, the
world’s number one female tennis player was taking her first on-court swings
and sewing clothing for her dolls. Years later, she developed her skills as
a fashion design student at the Art Institute of Florida. Then, she began a
hands-on collaboration with the Nike design team, delivering sketches and inspiration
to help guide their designs. The resulting Nike designs for Williams have taken
her signature tennis style to a new place and similarly evolved the athlete’s
involvement with Nike.
Williams, 36, was looking to make a Grand Slam comeback at a major tournament
for the first time in 16 months since giving birth to her daughter last September.
Around the same time she launched her own apparel line called Serena. While
the tennis star has previously collaborated with Nike and HSN, Serena is her
first independent fashion collection.
