Laced in white

The story behind the look

Venus Williams’s 2003 Wimbledon dress came from a collaboration with Diane von Furstenberg and Reebok. Its defining detail appeared when she turned: an open back threaded with white lacing. The International Tennis Hall of Fame places the design in a longer fashion history, connecting its corset reference with the restrictive clothing worn by tennis players more than a century earlier.

Here that historical reference became part of a contemporary match dress. The close-fitting white silhouette kept to Wimbledon’s visual tradition, while the exposed, laced back made the construction unmistakable. The archive’s rear reconstruction follows a tournament photograph so that this central design feature remains visible from both sides of the garment.