Un time there were the “crazy” Borg and McEnroe, then along came the somewhat cool tennis players like Federer, while now we have rock stars, think of Sinner, Berrettini… everyone wants them. There are also those who claim that Chiara Ferragni has a flirtation with the tennis player Zverev, which was later denied. What has changed in the collective imagination?
I come from a generation in which athletes were athletes, they were sponsored by companies that dealt with sports. There’s a scene in Challengers by Guadagnino which is 100% representative of the figure of the tennis player today: Zendaya (who in the film is Tashi Duncan) hurts her knee and puts on a cream that costs more than 100 euros, spreading it without fear, when a normal person would sip it , here in this sequence we are doing product placement of the doctor’s brand Augustinus Bader. So now that Gucci is making Sinner its spokesperson, not only dressing him on the pitch but also off it, for goodness sake it also happened with the footballer David Beckham and others, it is translating the figure of the sportsman, perhaps before they could have advertised watches Rolex to be clear, for the concept of time which is fundamental in sport, however now seeing that many are advertising other types of products that are not strictly connected to their activity makes me a bit shocked. Surely these are important contracts, so who condemns them? We don’t, but here’s this thing I don’t like very much. Sponsoring is one thing Lacoste which has a tennis tradition, another Dolce and Gabbana.
Does this “tenniscore” fit into the “old money” aesthetic?
Of course, because tennis by definition is an elite sport that is also very expensive, just think of the professional equipment. It was once considered a noble sport like horse riding. Tennis also has a very specific type of outline, think of an event like Wimbledon which is extremely social. You have Chanel, Rolex and various brands entered as sponsors of tennis events, because these are environments conceived as elitist. Tennis is connected to a higher social class. While as far as tenniscore is concerned, I think it’s the gymnastic and pleasant face of the old money aesthetic, and if you think about it it’s not even comparable to the casual jacket with the sweatshirt, it’s all much more sophisticated and nicer to look at. It is certainly a type of aesthetic that will be adopted more and more in the world of luxury.
And what will we find in the next fashion shows?
A lot, because it is comfortable but also expressed through precious materials and extremely elegant. I’m thinking above all of the champion uniforms. Then what can I say, tickets for tennis matches for example cost a lot, and this already responds to an elite concept in which you find young and beautiful champions, in short, a perfect opportunity to offer luxury objects.
Guadagnino in an interview said that the luxury objects of Challengers they had bought them, they were not sponsors.
It seems rather unlikely to me, for the simple fact that Challengers it is a good reproduction of the world of tennis. In the film there is even a scene in which two characters advertise Aston Martin. Logically I can’t question his expression, but it must be said that he did a brilliant marketing operation, after all there’s Uniqlo, Adidas, the fabulous JW Anderson who made the costumes and who I love so much. He did a very intelligent operation, he made luxury brands real narrative elements and this is very important. Just think back to the scene with the very expensive cream that Zendaya spreads on herself, the subtext is clearly “I use a lot of it as if it were Nivea because I’m very rich”. I find it brilliant that you turned these objects into elements of narration. It’s a bit the same thing that happened with the film Barbiein which the protagonist (Margot Robbie) at a certain point gets bored of heels and wears Birkenstocks and the company, the next day, announced it was going public.
After Challengers the T-shirt I Told Ya it has become a real craze.
Well, I bought it too (laughs, ed.). You should know, however, that that shirt recalls John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (Jonh John) who I also met. He was exactly the personification of the old money aesthetic, a beautiful, intelligent young man who had married a woman who was a protagonist of the modern jet set of the time. Kennedy walked around in that shirt. The excellent designer JW Anderson decided to include in the film a recognizable element of a rich boy who doesn’t want to make his condition in the nineties burdensome, of a class that he doesn’t need to show off. If I also think of his wife, Carolyn Bessette, on her wedding day she had opted for an absolutely simple dress. Wanting to give the idea of being part of a high social class but above all of being very easy going, this is the message she wanted to convey. And this t-shirt is proof of it.
