Serena Williams named ‘fashion icon’
Council of Fashion Designers of America has named tennis legend Serena Williams as one of its fashion icons.
Williams received the title from the organisation on Monday night at a ceremony held in New York.
Williams said to the audience, “I investigated fashion and style as a way to distinguish myself.” “In many ways for me, the tennis courts became my runway.”
Williams is the first sportsperson to receive the honour. Previous winners of the award include Zendaya, Rihanna, and Beyoncé.
The CFDA Chairman Thom Browne’s custom black sequin dress, worn by the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, was a hit on the red carpet at the American Museum of Natural History.
Fashion mogul Givenchy gave Williams the 2023 CFDA fashion icon award on what is known as the fashion industry’s Oscar night.
Actors Anne Hathaway, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Demi Moore, as well as singers Mary J Blige and Vanessa Hudgens, were among the other attendees. Williams discussed her passion for fashion and its significance on the tennis court in her acceptance speech.
“I designed skirts out of denim and I wore purple tutus and bodysuits and put beads in my hair, and braids,” she explained. “It was really just a fun time for me.” During her playing career, Williams studied fashion, going to fashion school in between Grand Slams. In 2018, she debuted her clothing line, S by Serena
“My clothes represent women everywhere – indomitable mothers, daughters, and sisters; resilient businesswomen and entrepreneurs; outsiders and underdogs; little girls with crazy dreams and unflinching women of colour,” Williams stated in an Essence magazine interview in 2019.
Williams, 42, declared that “I am not retired” and that “the chances (of a return) are very high” after her 27-year professional career came to an end in 2022 at the US Open in New York.
In a Vogue magazine article, she described the end of her tennis career as “evolving away from tennis”.
Williams thanked a number of people at the awards ceremony, saving the last one for her mother. “Watching her sew created this creativity in me that I still have to this day,” Williams stated.
