With the exception of male athletes modelling pants, the fickle world of fashion has never been a particularly kind place for sporting folk. Venus Williams this week continued her one-woman battle to ensure it never is. Yes, she of savage grunting fame has once again deflected the headlines from her mad tennis skillz and onto her vom-inducing sartorial choices.

Her retina-burning acid yellow lattice cut dress (complete with galaxy print skirt) was enough to draw comment from that renowned fashion critic and England cricketer, Graeme Swann who declared it;

“The worst outfit ever seen on a tennis court”.

Reminiscent of something Beyoncé’s ma woulda guilt-tripped her in to during the height of Destiny’s Child, the dress was in fact of Ms Williams own design from her range EleVen. Post-match Tina Knowells’ biggest competitor bragged of her inspiration, 

"Yeah, don't laugh. But it's kind of about a surprise, because when Alice goes down the hole, the rabbit hole, she finds all these things that are so surprising. This outfit is about having a surprise in tennis a dress, and kind of, you know, showing some skin and then just having a print. Prints don't happen that often in tennis. So it's called the Wonderland dress. It was fun."

Surprise just doesn’t cover it - but we think we get it now. It’s less a fashion statement, moreover a tactical distraction, making sure your outfit fucks so much with your opponent’s head you beat them into submission and guarantee the win. Result!

Not content with using her evil fashion powers on hapless Sandra Zahlavova, the audience got an unwelcome eyeful of that famous Williams derrière courtesy of a criminal pair of flesh coloured pants and a serious case of hungry bum. Clearly the Alice in Wonderland inspiration didn’t extend to a quick glance in a looking glass.

Posted on January 22, 2011 at 9:18:31 by Kelly Morris