As the oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world, Wimbledon is keen to uphold traditions and famously imposes a strict dress code on all competitors. The number one edict being that players must dress in all-white or at least predominantly white clothing with small colour accents.
But, as all followers of fashion know, rules are made to be broken.
So, here are our top 10 most controversial fashion moments from the ladies (and a couple of men) who have flouted the All England Club’s strict dress code over its illustrious 136-year history.
1. ‘Gorgeous Gussie’ Moran, 1949
Although Gussie made the doubles final at Wimbledon that year, she will be remembered more for what she wore on court than her sporting achievement. Her risqué short dress and lace knicker combination brought a damning admonishment from the All-England Club who claimed she had brought ‘vulgarity and sin into tennis’. A slight over-reaction we feel.
2. Linda Siegel, 1979
Linda Siegel arrived for her 1979 match against staunch feminist Bille Jean King in an attention grabbing low-cut top, which became significantly lower and more attention grabbing as the game progressed. If ever there was an outfit completely unsuited to the intended activity, Siegel had found it. Both her dignity and, ultimately, victory, eluded her.
3. Anne White, 1985
Leave it to the 80s to provide what might possibly be the most loose (and, yet, skin-tight) interpretation of the dress code, then and since. White took to the court in an all-in-one spandex jumpsuit with coordinating leg-warmers. Why she thought legwarmers were a good idea for a tennis match we will never know as her opponent that day, Pam Shriver, said the outfit was distracting and asked tournament officials to ban her from ever wearing it again. At least, given her surname, she managed to get the colour right.
4. Pat Cash, 1987
Pat’s black and white checked bandana and mullet combination was a winning one as it took him all the way to victory at the 1987 tournament. He failed to stick to Wimbledon’s dictum that accessories must be predominantly white but we feel he was guilty of far greater crimes – against fashion.
5. Andre Agassi, 1991
Agassi was such a fan of the lion-maned mullet that he later admitted to wearing a hairpiece on court for much of the 90s. The Las Vegan also often favoured fluoro cycling shorts worn under denim hot pants (who doesn’t?) and famously refused to play at Wimbledon due to the stringent dress code. He broke his self-imposed ban in 1991 and disappointed everyone by turning up in regulation tennis whites – controversial in its very conformity.
6. Anna Kournikova, 1997 – 2003
Before she became Enrique Iglesias’ full-time significant other, Anna was a bit of a tennis player. She was always conscious of her off-court marketing appeal though (and legion of male fans) and was the first female player to bring a fashion edge to the all-white Wimbledon brief, sporting a line of ever decreasing dresses.
7. Maria Sharapova, 2008
The lithe-limbed Russian took the formal All-England Club dress code quite literally when she wore a tuxedo style top in 2008. Wimbledon’s sticklers for traditional attire suspected she was mocking them but couldn’t prove it.
8. Serena Williams, 2008
Serena showed she was ready for the SW19 rain (and, perhaps, a post-tennis career with MI5) by wearing an-all white trench for her warm-up sessions in 2008. She accessorised with hoop earrings and bandana for added ‘rude girl’ attitude – tournament traditionalists were baffled into inertia.
9. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 2011
American Bethanie went all Gaga on us with her coat of many tennis balls in 2011. Unfortunately, it seems the Wimbledon dress code-tzars failed to legislate for bad taste.
10. Venus Williams, 2010, 2011
She’s sadly pulled out of this year’s tournament due to injury, but Venus can still teach her younger sibling a thing or two about breaking the rules. In 2010, Venus referenced the 80s in a short ra-ra skirt and, in 2011, she chose a more fashion-forward playsuit with gold undercrackers. Advantage Venus.
