When thinking back on iconic white tennis outfits, you would be remiss not to recall Chris Evert’s 1971 lace dress. The then-16-year-old ignited a fashion movement in the sport with her drop-waist mini dress and matching ribbon hair accessory
Thus, it seems almost baffling to think no one has attempted a nod to the infamous dress at the only Grand Slam mandating a strict all-white dress code. Until Marta Kostyuk debuted a two-piece custom lace Wilson dress at this year’s Championships at Wimbledon
“I actually said during the process, I can’t believe nobody’s nodded to Chrissy Everett’s dress because it was so iconic and just of the moment and so recognizable,” Joelle Michaeloff, Global Chief Creative Officer of sportswear at Wilson, tells me over Zoom. “We wanted to nod to the fact that that was such an awesome moment. She’s such an amazing player and human.”
Kostyuk’s kit featured a two-piece construction made up of a bra, vest and skirt accented with floral lace detailing while maintaining the performance functionality required to move around the grass. The dress is the second edition of “The Marta Dress,” the 2024 custom Wimbledon kit inspired by Kostyuk’s wedding gown that quickly became the talk of that year’s Championships
Over the past six years, Wilson has evolved from an equipment wholesale business to a direct-to-consumer business driven by the growth in interest in sportswear, although it took time to discover how that interest fit into Wilson’s identity
“What’s really evolved and why we wanted to even do this a second time is Marta’s evolved in how she plays,” Michaeloff said
“We’ve evolved in our bandwidth and capability…the catalyst for all of this was sportswear, but it really are these moments, these authentic storytelling moments that really show who the brand is. I think that’s really propelled us to not only do it again, but towards this new direction that we’ve been heading for the last six and a half years.”
Kostyuk was Wilson’s first 360 athlete in a mutually beneficial partnership that allowed Wilson to grow as a sportswear brand. Michaeloff describes that initial first year as a learning process for both her and Kostyuk. The Ukrainian seamlessly embedded herself within the design process for her custom kits on day one, and the rest was history
“We actually chose Marta and Marta chose us from the very beginning because of that partnership,” she said. “We wanted an athlete that would give us feedback instantly. We really, really hit it off with her because she’s so direct.”
Since launching Kostyuk as a Wilson 360 athlete, Wilson has designed several custom kits for the Ukrainian; however, Wimbledon remains the crux of the partnership. Having limitations, Michaeloff says, allows the team to create something more special, given that there are parameters they have to stay in while designing something unique enough to stand out amongst the sea of white kits on the grounds
“When you take away things, so for example color, you’re really left with just the beauty of the materials and the cut of the dress and the fit,” she said. “Taking sort of Marta’s aesthetic and sort of who she is, I felt like we could actually really show her off the most when you kind of took away pattern and color and all the things.”
The idea for the dress came about at last year’s Mubadala DC Open. Michaeloff was grabbing lunch with Kostyuk when the two started talking about ideas for Wimbledon. “We found all these vintage photos that actually inspired where the dress came from,” she said. “We really wanted to play with texture, which is where the lace came into play.”
Unlike 2024, Michaeloff and her team had more time to focus on the kit’s design. The detailing of the dress, specifically where the floral pattern emerged from the mesh on the dress, took five rounds of engineering to perfect
The team met up with Kostyuk multiple times to try on different prototypes, including a session during the Australian Open earlier this year, where Kostyuk tried the kit on for the first time. Michaeloff and her team kept the session under wraps to preserve the surprise for as long as possible, taking preliminary images and getting Kostyuk’s feedback on where to cut along the side panels and across the back
“She gives such great feedback,” Michaeloff said. “She’s so clear about what she wants or what she needs. When we were signing our first 360 athlete, that was everything because we had never produced product for an elite athlete of Marta’s caliber.”
Kostyuk’s custom kit reflects a growing trend in tennis as more players are unveiling unique kits divergent of a brand’s broader tournament collection. Naomi Osaka is one of the more well-known examples of a player working with her kit sponsor to create an on-court design special to her, while others like Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz have signature on-court lines or colorways with their brands
Unlike team sports like soccer and basketball, tennis does not have the luxury of jerseys with a player’s name branded across the back. The custom kit offers a solution to that lack of personal touch. As soccer fans are eager to collect vintage jerseys, so too are tennis fans to collect their favorite player’s kit if the sellout of the original Marta Dress is any indication
“The fact that people are starting to collect them and then people are excited and anticipating the next ones is actually kind of mind-blowing,” Michaeloff said. “It’s just really the cherry on top because we never set out for that to be the way it happened.”
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Published 51 minutes ago
MEGHA GUPTA
Megha Gupta is a multimedia journalist studying at Columbia University. She has a passion for exploring the intersections of fashion, culture, and sports, and previously covered the 2024 Paris Olympics at NBC Sports
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