Match kit · AI garment reconstruction.
Billie Jean King · 1973
Victory in mint and blue
A crystal-bright dress designed for one of the most watched and consequential matches in tennis history.
The story behind the look
King wore this mint-green, royal-blue and crystal-detailed Ted Tinling dress when she defeated Bobby Riggs in the 1973 Battle of the Sexes exhibition. Tinling treated the match as theatre as well as sport, making a tailored silhouette that registered across the Houston Astrodome.
The outfit is now held by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Its preservation reflects what the night came to represent: a decisive athletic performance tied to a much larger argument about women’s ability and equality.