After focusing on ski wear collections, luxury labels are turning to the world of tennis. The polo and short pleated skirt look, sporty-chic with a preppy feel, has always been popular: from the 1920s, when Jean Patou first dabbled with it, to the present day. In the last few years, tennis looks have been given a reboot and have become uber-popular again, now boosted by the Luca Guadagnino movie Challengers, starring Zendaya as a tennis pro, and by the approaching summer season.

 
With its sights set on the Roland Garros, the prestigious Parisian tournament scheduled from May 20 to June 9, fashion labels needed no further encouragement to tap the tenniscore trend, as shown by the plethora of tennis-inspired ad campaigns and capsule collections. Spring is usually the time when labels drop their new tennis-style looks. In Paris, the Roland-Garros brand has again teamed up with Galeries Lafayette to open three temporary stores, while the department store’s flagship branch on boulevard Haussmann will broadcast the tournament live on its terrace.
 
This year, luxury labels in particular are going for a Grand Slam. As shown by the latest Gucci campaign, featuring new Italian tennis superstar Jannik Sinner, who has become a genuine celebrity in his country. The Kering-owned Italian luxury label has been supplying Sinner with customised court bags since last year. Gucci has defined the collaboration as “exceptional, the first of its kind between the world of sport and luxury fashion.”

Gucci has recently released a reportage-style campaign lensed by Riccardo Raspa, showing Sinner walking on and off the world’s most prestigious tennis courts, on clay, grass and hard-court surfaces, shouldering his oversize Gucci bag. The pictures feature the ‘Gucci Is a Feeling’ slogan. The label also emphasised its long-standing links with the sport, from the 1977 launch of tennis-style sneakers to the introduction of ready-to-wear tennis looks in the 1980s.

Tennis-themed capsule collections, sophisticated and a touch retro, are now extremely popular. KNT, the urban line by Italian luxury menswear label Kiton, recently unveiled a mini collection for men with a 1970s feel, consisting of cotton polos and shorts, as well as unlined, lightweight wool blazers, and crested gilets and cardigans, for that elegant line judge look.

Zendaya wears Brunello Cucinelli at Monte Carlo

Brunello Cucinelli has dropped a Spring/Summer 2024 capsule collection for women, men and children called ‘Tennis Sets’, featuring headbands, t-shirts, socks, hats, and chic dresses and polos, all in white and beige, which also includes branded bags and tennis rackets. The Italian cashmere specialist received a boost for the collection’s launch when US singer/actor Zendaya turned up at the Monte Carlo tennis tournament wearing the label’s cable-knit court-style sweater.

Zendaya was outfitted in the Challengers film by Irish designer Jonathan Anderson, whose JW Anderson label also dropped a collection designed with tennis legend Roger Federer in collaboration with Uniqlo. In recent weeks, Zendaya has made several luxury labels happy by sporting various tennis-inspired looks designed by top fashion names.

She has been seen wearing a cute navy Tory Burch dress, as well as various red-carpet outfits. In Rome, she aced it with a pleated mini dress and pumps with tennis-ball-shaped heels by Loewe. She was pictured in Los Angeles in a sexy pale pink polo-dress by Jacquemus, and in London in a long, bare-backed Thom Browne dress decorated with an embroidered tennis racket motif.

It is not the first time that the New York designer has celebrated sport in his creations, notably tennis, which is a good fit with his retro aesthetic. Casablanca too has adopted a sporty register from early on, with the ‘Tennis Club’ sportswear line. Not to mention sportswear brands like Lacoste and Fila, which have spotlighted their tennis DNA in recent years.

 
“This renewed interest in tennis is a post-pandemic phenomenon, as more and more people are keen to devote time to outdoors activities. The number of tennis practitioners worldwide increased by 5% in 2021, with over 87 million players active in 41 countries, according to the 2021 Global Tennis Report commissioned by the International Tennis Federation. In the UK, practitioner numbers rose by 43% in 2022-23, according to the Lawn Tennis Association,” noted trend-monitoring firm WGSN.

New take on old school elegance

Tennis has an elite sport aura, and has always projected an image of old school elegance, infusing it over the years with a more athletic and sensual vibe. Miu Miu cleverly tapped this mood two years ago, successfully relaunching its pleated mini skirt. According to WGSN, exploring the intersection of upper-class elite sports – like golf and tennis – with fashion has turned out to be an effective way for labels and designers of attracting a new audience.

In 2022, WGSN spotted this emerging trend in a report entitled ‘Lifestyle Trend: Tennis Culture Redefined’, noting that it is driven by a fresh boom in outdoor activities and the renaissance of the preppy aesthetic.

“This aesthetic lies at the intersection of an upper-class BCBG culture, activewear and understated, affordable luxury,” said WGSN, confirming that tenniscore is here to stay. “In 2024, looks defined as ‘tennis’ are growing by 7% year-on-year compared to 2023, while pleated skirts increased by 2% and account for 24% of the skirt category,” said WGSN.