“Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn’t allowed in a photo because I wasn’t wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport.”
As summer comes to an end, we can’t help but muse on one of the world’s favorite past times for those warm summer days…
{TENNIS}
It’s hard to believe the genesis of this sport began in Europe as entertainment between religious services at Church, but either way, this is a sport that has always been the arena for change…
Experts suspect the game dates back thousands of years, and researchers have dated the game back to France in the 12th Century – almost a thousand years ago! When the game began it’s starts, players simply hit the ball back and forth using their hands, and was an indoor game experienced by monks in the cloisters of their monasteries.
As time progressed into the 16th Centuries, the racket was introduced, and tennis became a truly Royal event, popularized by Kings and Princes across Europe (most famously Francis I, Louis X, and Charles VIII of France, as well as Henry V and VIII of England)
It would not be until the 1800s that the game would be brought outside, closer to the {traditions} we know today.
The world’s first tennis club would officially be founded in 1874 by Major Walton Clopton Wingfield who officially patented the game, after inviting his guests to play this medieval game at a garden party on his estate.
{SUCCESS!}
While the game has not changed very much since, the fashions and styles seen on the courts of the tennis match have evolved immensely since it’s humble monastic origins. Men wore trousers, while women were required to wear their complicated layer system of girdles, petticoats, skirts, and sweaters making the game even more of a challenge.
Today, tennis players can hit the ball up to speeds of 163 mph (held by Australia’s Samuel Groth) and the ease and agility of the uniform has become increasingly more geared towards the power and intensity required of the sport.
The sport, which requires a certain agility and weightlessness, fearlessness and focus, high energy and low, is definitely a statement of individual will and strength. To win a coveted world title is to put yourself on a pedestal above the lineage of this once royal game – to carry on this inspiring {tradition}.
Tennis and Fashion are inextricably entwined and we thought it would be fun to see some of it’s history come to life. So on behalf of this fantastic tradition and inspiration, we present this E.O.F. {PHOTOBLAST} dedicated to the joys and folly of this forever changing past time!
Tennis has also been a staple forefront for style inspiration. For over a century, the world has turned to these Gods of the Court, who speed and soar before our watchful eyes, to see what will they be wearing…
Successful fashion labels such as Fred Perry and Lacoste were started by world class tennis champions Fred Perry and Renee Lacoste, and have grown into influential style makers who continue to reinterpret and imagine their famous essence and style.
Style scholars are even ringing their bell on Prada’s Spring 2013 show and the 1970s tennis club edge it inspires. Don’t forget the fabulous Jordan Baker, the vapid tennis pro from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1920s era classic , “The Great Gatsby”. She was a real hit in 2013’s “The Great Gatsby”, in fact, she was one of the best parts!
GET THE LOOK
Now, I know you are thirsting for this look, after all, and I’ve got just the remedy!
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Gives me a bit of a Luke Wilson in “The Royal Tenenbaums” vibe also.
So much can be done with this!
The style gods surely are smiling . . .
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[Billie Jean King flips the Bird on Convention]
Bet after this, you’ll be seeing Tennis inspirations everywhere you go! Hope you enjoyed this bit of reflection on this mysteriously elegant, sophisticated, and primal game. No menace here, just wanted to scare you…
Sincerely,
{theEye}
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The Eye of Faith Vintage 
Such an eclectic and interesting blog here! Thanks for checking out my blog and alerting me to yours!
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Great photos.
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