When Serena Williams steps back onto the grass at Queen's Club Championships this June, she'll continue a legacy that transcends tennis. For three decades, the 23-time Grand Slam champion has used her kit as a canvas - blurring the line between athletic wear and intimate apparel, often with direct echoes from lingerie history. Her 2018 French Open catsuit, a black compression Nike design, was engineered to prevent blood clots post-childbirth, but its silhouette recalls the sleek, body-conscious foundation garments of the 1920s - when tennis legend Suzanne Lenglen scandalized Wimbledon by playing in a calf-length, sleeveless dress. Williams' 2018 US Open Off-White tutu skirt, designed by Virgil Abloh, channels the layered petticoats of Victorian corsetry, while her 2022 US Open star-spangled dress, with sheer sleeves and crystal hair details, nods to the theatrical stage corsets of the 19th century burlesque. Even her 2014 leopard-print Nike dress echoes the animal-skin patterns that dominated 1950s boudoir lingerie. Most striking is her 2021 Australian Open tribute to Flo-Jo: a one-legged pink catsuit that mirrors the 1980s leotard-as-lingerie trend, when aerobics wear fused with bedroom fashion. Williams' 2004 denim skirt and crystal tank top - inspired by Andre Agassi's jean shorts - reimagines the denim corset, a 1990s fetishwear staple. In every stitch, Williams reminds us that what we wear to move is also what we wear to feel. The court, like the boudoir, is a stage for empowerment.
Originally reported by WWD