What They Wore 2010: Venus Williams

Here’s the thing about Venus Williams: She has a stunning body.

She’s tall, slender, and athletic at the same time. She has beautiful lines. She has the ultimate body to aspire to for a female athlete, and when she walks on court, she is practically radioactive with her calm glow and passion for the game.

Which is to say I totally love her.

But that’s why it confuses me: that she is dressed more and more like an ice skater and less like a tennis player when she looks, plays, and struts her stuff like the consummate female tennis player.

Love it, hate it, at some point during 2010, everybody talked about it. Perhaps that was Venus’s philosophy all along.

The first hint of what was to come came during the Australian Open, when Venus walked on court in the Slit Dress, an outfit so subtle that from whichever angle, whichever end you looked, the dress formed some kinda of Delta of Venus.

Once seen, cannot be unseen.

“…sometimes you just dream it up. Sometimes you can see a dress and say, Hey, I really like those slits, so let me put that in my tennis dress. Or I’m dying to do lace. How can we do that on the court and make it work?”

Getting to Dubai, we had a glimpse of what it could’ve been, minus the slits: sleek, athletic and cheery.

WHY? WHYYYY?! I asked the lightbulb.

Unexpectedly, the black version of the slit dress, which Venus wore in Rome, actually looks ninja-cool.

Paired with a teal long-sleeved top for the chilly night air and empty stadium.

When we got Madrid, Venus unleased the Vaudeville. It’s well fitted, it’s a nice colour on her, but it’s just a little … “can-can” for me.

Talk about “can-can”, Venus’ famous Roland Garros outfit was positively Lady Marmalade, with the black lace and pink lining on the bodice.

And that was before she turned around.

“So the design has nothing to do with the rear. It just so happens that I have a very well developed one!

“It’s all genetic. If you look at mom and dad, you’ll see the same thing happening. If you look at my sister (Serena), you’ll see the same thing.

“It’s really about the illusion. Like you can wear lace, but what’s the point of wearing lace when there’s just black under?

“The illusion of just having bare skin is definitely for me a lot more beautiful. So it’s really not about anything else other than just that skin showing. So I’m glad that it’s gotten good reviews. I mean, it could be worse.”

They say the can-can girls didn’t wear much underneath those skirts either …

The strange show-girl themed outfits continued to Wimbledon, where Venus rocked a shimmy, lacy tiered dress that was the ultimate antithesis of Wimbledon.

It was as if she realised that she wasn’t going to be playing any more tournaments for the year, when the US Open rolled around, Venus treated us to the full wardrobe.

We started with the tight fitting part leather bodice …

… moved on to the lamp shade halter and mini skort.

Before finally slipping into a pink dress with diamonte patterns.

It’s a fine dress … for a gymnast.

That brings us to the end of 2010, with Venus playing her last match against Clijsters in New York. It’s been an interesting year for Miss Vee in her wardrobe choices. At times too interesting.

The question remains however, how did you handle it?

xx doots