COURT couture

LARA OWEN looks at the game-changing fashion on display at Wimbledon over the last 100 years

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Wimbledon’s strict all-white dress code dates back to 1877, but the last century has seen many changes on the tennis courts as the tournament served up sport in style.

The 1920s marked the beginning of modern sportswear. Suzanne Lenglen, a French tennis prodigy and six-time Wimbledon singles champion, revolutionised how women played the game and how they dressed for it.

At a time when most female players competed in restrictive ankle length dresses, long sleeves and even corsets, her signature look featured a knee-length pleated skirt, sleeveless blouse and a bandeau headband to hold back her bobbed hair.

On the men’s side, French player and multiple-time Grand Slam champion René Lacoste was an equally influential figure in tennis fashion.

Male players traditionally wore long-sleeved, buttoned-up shirts, flannel trousers and even ties. Lacoste introduced a short-sleeved, piqué cotton shirt with a soft collar that could be flipped up to protect the neck from the sun. It later became known as the polo top.

He had stitched the emblem of a crocodile onto his shirts - referencing his nickname “the crocodile” for his tenacity on court - which would later become the logo of his eponymous fashion label founded in 1933.

Wimbledon court fashion shifted toward sleeker, more functional attire, with style becoming an extension of athletic performance.