|
August 27, 2007
The tennis pro: Federer keeps a neat look
By Samantha Critchell, Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Roger Federer is known for precision on the tennis
court and he was true to form Monday at the U.S. Open: His royal blue
polo-collar shirt matched the royal blue sweatband around his head,
which matched the royal blue sweatband around his wrist.
Federer's personal style seems to mirror his tennis style. He is confident and classic.
"He's got it all going on," observed Men's Vogue editor Jay Fielden, who put Federer on the cover of his magazine this year.
"He wears clothes that are emblematic
of age and status. He does not dress too old or too young, too stuffy
or too trendy. He's solid, smart and handsome," he added.
Federer's impact on amateur tennis
courts can be seen in the uptick in coordinated outfits -- a polo shirt
and neat shorts -- instead of the T-shirts and bathing suits-as-shorts
that some players had started wearing in recent years, Fielden said.
The only athlete playing today that
Fielden thinks rivals Federer as a style icon is golfer Tiger Woods --
and Fielden notes they actually have similar good taste.
Wearing more traditional tennis
clothes does seem to elevate Federer from the competition, even before
the first serve. In his opening match, there was a stark difference
between his blinding white tailored shorts and Scoville Jenkins' looser
black athletic shorts.
Jenkins on several occasions had to
stuff his thick gold chain into the rounded neck of his athletic
T-shirt that featured a graphic design in red on the sleeves against a
white background.
For the most part, women have
completely upstaged men in the world of tennis fashion -- an easy thing
to do with the likes of Maria Sharapova and her model looks and Venus
Williams, an aspiring designer who will be wearing her own line of
clothing during competitive play.
Top-seeded Justine Henin won her
first match Monday in a bold red outfit that also subtly captured the
layered look so popular in street fashion.
Probably not since Andre Agassi,
deemed worthy of a namesake fragrance by Estee Lauder, has a male
tennis player excited the fashion industry as much as Federer. In the
days leading to the U.S. Open, Fielden co-hosted a dinner in the
defending champion's honor with Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour.
Nike dresses Federer and has borrowed an idea from its women's program, creating both daytime and nighttime looks for him.
The blue shirt-white shorts
combination is for day. For evening, Federer will have an all-black
outfit inspired by a tuxedo, complete with bonded satin tape down the
legs of his shorts and warmup pants. The added shine will also be seen
under the night lights on his shirt.
"Roger has an effortless style that
is classic and iconic," Gill Brown, Nike's head of global tennis
apparel, said in a statement. "His cool efficiency on the court carries
over to the way he dresses and we played off that, especially in
designing his evening on-court attire."
|
