The collaboration Nike Air Max 95 Femme began when Abloh and the NikeCourt design team met in Paris to discuss a performance dress for Williams. Nike sent a body form designed specifically for Williams’ figure to Italy to explore options Nike Air Presto Hombre with Nike Air Presto Femme materials, then it was flown back to Indian Wells, California, where Williams could pick the features of the dress that spoke to her.
One of the most important inspirations for the dress was Williams’ love of dance and ballet, which appears in the tulled design to give her a tutu-like airiness on the court. After Williams tried on the dress, the body form was sent back to Italy for the final modifications that will appear in New York Nike Blazer Basse Femme City.
"What I love about tennis is the gracefulness. It's an aggressive and powerful game, but it takes touch and finesse," says Abloh. “So the dress is feminine, but combines her aggression. It's Asics Gel lyte 5 Dame partially revealing. It's asymmetrical. It has a sort of ballerina-esque silhouette to symbolize her grace. It's not about bells and whistles and tricks. It's just about it living on the body, and expressing Nike Air Max 90 Homme Bleu Adidas Campus Femme Serena’s spirit with each swing of the racket."
Of course, designing for optimum performance was always a priority. The tulled dress flares out to accommodate the athletic moves in Williams’ arsenal, while the supportive-mesh fit hugs her body and simultaneously keeps her cool for the hot New York City evenings.On the 50th anniversary of New York City’s marquee tennis tournament, the NikeCourt fall 2018 collection travels back Adidas ZX 700 Femme in time to celebrate the aesthetic that once defined tennis and modernizes it for today's generation of players.
“When tennis began, people wore long-pleated skirts and sweaters, and sweater-knit polos,” Nike Air VaporMax Hombre says Abby Swancutt, Apparel Design Director for NikeCourt. “For the collection, we took this classic nod, but we gave it a retro feel, all while using some of our most innovative materials.”
A contemporary play on the styles worn by athletes at Forest Hills in 1968, the collection’s use of single, declarative shapes appears in small ways throughout the apparel — the details of a waistband, or a plummeting stripe down the sleeve of a jacket. Its throwback color scheme is based in muted oranges, peachy tones, and forest greens, and the garments are set with expressive color blocking and white accentsWhile the fashion elements Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 34 Mujer point to the sport’s past, the pieces drive tennis into the future with key performance details. The NikeCourt Zonal Cooling Slam Dress, for example, features areas of ventilation to keep players cool in Nike Air Vapormax Femme the hot NYC summer evenings, while its racerback design and side slit allow for a dynamic range of motion on the court.
Modern tints take on a different energy in the collection’s evening wear. Solid prints give way to bold stripes, like those on the men’s NikeCourt Dri-FIT Advantage Polo, which has a diagonal orange stripe that pops against the tournament’s blue courts.
“We look at New York City as a stage,” says Swancutt. “It’s not like other tournaments, where you sit there and you’re silent. At Flushing Meadows, it’s loud, it’s fun, and there’s a lot of energy. Day or night, the players want to put on a show