Here's a surprise - I'm loving the way Venus Williams is looking at the U.S. Open. Now, I'm not talking about her tennis play. While she's already out in doubles (losing to Angelique Kerber in Round 2), she has a strong possibility of winning doubles with sister Serena. But check out her outfit from her first-round singles victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands.The dress she's wearing in this photo is from Venus' Eleven collection and is the "Fall Rose Garden" dress. It is white with a black contrast collar detail and is covered in pink, black and red roses with a gray trellis background. The word "Love" is sprinkled around too (which may be cute but is not what I'm looking for in my tennis game). While the print is not my style, this is a vast improvement over some of the disasters we've seen Venus wearing in recent years (remember the French Open negligee? the Wimbledon curtain romper). She's also worn the Fall Rose Garden tank and a white skirt while playing doubles with Serena as you can see in this photo:
I wonder why players wear dresses for singles but skirts for doubles? I haven't figured that one out yet.
Anyway, the most interesting thing to me about Venus' Eleven line is not that she's wearing it but that she's got someone else wearing it! American Varvara Lepchenko is also sporting Eleven apparel. Here she is on Day 1 in her first round victory over Mathilde Johansson. She's wearing the "Classic Geo Love" tank and a black skirt:
I love that tank. While it comes in black and gray, I'm really liking the hot pink. Here's Varvara on Day 3, when she beat Anastasia Rodionova in Round 2. She's wearing the "Fall Italico" dress that I believe Venus wore at the French Open:
Although you can't tell from the above pic, this is a pretty great dress, color-wise and design-wise. And the fact that Venus is having someone else wear her clothes (and someone else is actually agreeing to wear her clothes!) can only mean good things for the Eleven line.
Best of luck to Venus in doubles and keep your eye on Varvara - she's coming on pretty strong!
© Kim Selzman 2012 All Rights Reserved
