Fashion: the return of the pleated skirt in tennis

Tennis-inspired clothing is all the rage. +15%, +25%, +50%… All fashion resale sites have reported their statistics in recent months, and all attest to this observation. The most iconic piece of this wardrobe remains the pleated skirt, which can be worn in town with a rugby polo shirt, a round-neck sweater or a rock t-shirt. How did this well-known attribute of the tennis player for a century end up taking its place far from the courts?

In general, a trend does not appear spontaneously, but is built gradually. This time, the first signs have been accumulating since around 2020. On social networks, sporty looks and active wear have been proliferating after the Covid crisis, a period during which sportswear experienced a real revival. In the wake of a desire among young people to appropriate the dress codes of the old bourgeoisie, the sports popular with the latter, tennis or golf, have been popular. “Tenniscore” then refers to those who wear the attributes of tennis players in the city: sports socks, polo shirt (or even polo dress), visor and, therefore, pleated skirt.

A brand like Sporty & Rich, created at the end of the 2010s, explores the world of sport, yoga, golf, beach sports and tennis, of course, through its numerous mini-collections several times a year. Sporty & Ric collaborates in particular with numerous sports brands, Adidas, Prince and Lacoste. For this latest collaboration, in 2023, the tennis skirt was obviously included. “Inspired by the court, created for the city, this collection revealed models inspired by heritage pieces from Lacoste. The pleated skirt being a strong piece of our heritage, integrating it into this capsule was obvious,” explains Catherine Spindler, general director of Lacoste.

The label, which owes its name to the famous French tennis player who dominated the 1920s, René Lacoste, is a reference in tennis style, with its pique cotton polo shirt in particular, a revolution in sportswear invented by the French athlete, but also with the pleated skirt. “It appeared at Lacoste in the early 1970s, where it was already not reserved for playing tennis, offered in different lengths and quickly in different materials. It will also exist in a leather version,” adds the brand’s CEO.

The origins of the pleated skirt, period, date back fifty years earlier, to the 1920s, when French designer Jean Patou designed the first model of its kind for player Suzanne Lenglen. A real revolution and a liberation for players, who until then played in pants. The interest of the pleat for the sport is precisely to provide significant ease of movement while taming the fabric, which will be less likely to hinder movement or lift up. “What is fascinating is how the meaning of this garment has been reversed on the court, where the skirt remains surprisingly standardized, very short, and is no longer a lever for performance but rather the vector of a sexist bias,” points out Saveria Mendella, a doctoral student at the EHESS in fashion studies.

The incongruous scandal sparked in 2018 at Roland-Garros by the compression suit of Serena Williams who had given birth a little more than six months earlier argues in this direction. Even though no rule is written (unlike Wimbledon, where white is not negotiable), the president of the French Tennis Federation stepped up to demand that a rule be enacted preventing “atypical outfits”. “A priori, shorts would be more practical in many ways for a tennis player, but that remains an exception on the courts,” the researcher is surprised. Some traditions have thick leather…

Concomitantly with its emancipation from the courts since 2020, the status of the mini-skirt in fashion has evolved. Miu Miu, the Italian brand little sister of Prada and Diesel, has brought the mini skirt back into fashion. And now a new field has opened up for the pleated tennis skirt. Celine, one of the most scrutinized luxury brands, released a capsule collection in the summer of 2023 composed of a polo shirt, a pleated skirt or even a canvas bag holding a racket marked with the brand’s monogram. “At a time when other luxury brands were focusing on more popular sports, such as football or skateboarding, the very chic and noble Celine turned instead to tennis,” comments Saveria Mendella.

But the latest stone to be laid to the credit of the pleated skirt and tenniscore dates back to a few weeks ago, during the promotion of the film Challengers. Luca Guadagnino’s new opus follows a love triangle between two professional players and their high school sweetheart, played by Zendaya. The American actress has reeled off an impressive collection of outfits inspired by the wardrobe of tennis players, some of which were imagined by one of the most brilliant designers of the moment, Jonathan Anderson (Loewe, JW Anderson). Among the range of outfits customized especially for these red carpets, several pleated skirts. With the power of Zendaya’s exposure and influence, the phenomenon has fueled the already growing popularity of the garment in the city. It is likely to be on every occasion this summer, until a new key piece replaces it this winter. Such is fashion.