disappear, appear, repeat

Much like Maria Sharapova’s post-U.S. Open behavior last year, which saw her hanging out at New York fashion week and in Nole’s player’s box, her early Wimbledon loss quickly turned into cameos at a few places in Paris and London.

She made a showing at the Valentino Fall 2008 couture show — the first one by young designer Alessandra Facchinetti (who replaced the recently retired Valentino Garavani himself). The hyper-embroiderized collection reinterpreted the fashion house’s classic silhouettes and included the requisite red dress.

And she took in a night at the Tiki-themed Mahiki Club in Dover Street. (src)

Stella McCartney courted this Maria (instead of her tennis muse, Maria Kirilenko) when she hosted a party at Harvey Nichols‘ Fifth Floor Restaurant to expand her organics collection, which currently includes make-up and lingerie.

Masha showed up in a white chiffon cocktail dress with friend Camilla Belle. Masses of pink peonies occupied the dining room, with each of the lucky guests receiving a bespoke napkin ring embossed with their name.

Eco-conscious: We are sick of green-movement marketing as much as writing off Roger, but Stella’s ahead of the pack. The collection will debut at Harvey Nichols and Stella’s flagship store on London’s Bruton Street in June. It’s will be a 20-piece collection made up of loose tunics, slouchy suits, knits and versatile coats — all exuding Stella’s signature, laid-back look, in her favorite color palette of muted tones, taupe, blush pink, grey and stone. (and FYI, Stella uses wind energy — from the grid — to power her studio and e-commerce site. She also has an option with her online store where you can decide to ship your order carbon neutral.)

LeSportsac: The Spring/Summer 2008 collaboration between McCartney and LeSportsac has been out for a while. If you haven’t had a chance to browse, look at detail shots here and the full collection (shop) here.

tatoo watch: maria sharapova?!

This could just be a error, but the caption accompanying this Abaca Press photo of female player’s nape at Wimbledon identifies it as Maria Sharapova’s. I’ve never seen her nape, so…

Three things:

1) Is this her neck? The top doesn’t look like the Nike tuxedo top. Even if you took off the sheer layer (leaving the sports bra), it still doesn’t look like Maria.

2) If this isn’t Maria, who is it?

3) What does the tattoo say?

(photo by Corinne Dubreuil/Abaca; thanks, Lu!)

RELATED POSTS
>> TSF’s wimbledon coverage

fashion focus: jewelry at wimbledon

Serena Williams goes Dionysian at Wimbledon 2008.

Let’s talk jewelry for a sec. I write about it once in a while when it looks good, but I’d like to address some folks out there who have come to me asking that their jewelry be featured on TSF.

God bless their entrepreneurship and knack for making things, but please — mini-bedazzled tennis balls as necklace charms and racquets as earrings — that’s just too easy. (As Samantha Jones once said, “Owning a hot-glue gun does not make you a hot designer.”) These designs might sell at the country club, but that’s not cutting it here.

For Venus, hoops to go with her new EleVen outfit.

People need to think outside the box. Tennis jewelry can be something other than racquets and balls. Just take a look at what the likes of Venus, Serena, Daniela, and Maria wear on the court. They have jewelry that are inspired by tennis or are appropriate for the rigors of competitive play. You’d never see a tennis ball from their lobes — it’d just be too much. And really, there would be no other appropriate occassion to wear’ em! Tennis overkill.

If you want to incorporate tennis iconography in your jewelry, some suggestions:

Charms sold by Links of London include strawberries, trophies, and ump chairs.

Other examples: A shop out of the UK created a strawberries and cream charm bracelet (here); a brooch of a tennis shoe (I once saw one from Marc Jacobs); a brooch made with shoe soles; rocks cut in the shape of tennis strings, etc.

This is how you do “tennis” jewelry.

“I don’t like her outfit”

As much as we celebrated all the fashion being paraded at this year’s tournament, there are folks who thought it a little too much for the event.

First, of course, is the grumpster Andy Roddick. Here he is dismissing Roger Federer’s cardigan after defeating Schwank:

Q. The guy on the BBC as you walked off the court asked you about cardigans, all that stuff. Everybody has been talking about fashion, both men and women. Do you think that’s sort of like, Who cares? Do you enjoy the whole atmosphere here with that?

ANDY RODDICK: I personally don’t care. But, you know, if it gets — you know, I think any attention drawn to tennis for whatever reason is good. If that means wearing the Mr. Rogers’ sweater, whatever else you got, then so be it. I don’t know if it would be a good look for me or any of my friends - or relatives (smiling).

And now 20-year-old Russian Alla Kudryavtseva took her dislike of compatriot Maria Sharapova’s elaborate Nike outfit all the way to the winner’s circle. She upset the 2008 Australian Open champ 6-2, 6-4 in the second round.

“I don’t like her outfit,” Kudryavtseva said. “It was one of the motivations to beat her.” Ouch.

FYI, Alla wore a simple tennis dress (white with red trim) from Prince.

(photos by Getty Images)

RELATED POSTS
>> TSF’s wimbledon coverage continues…

feminine jewelry to match sharapova’s masculine outfit

Tiffany & Co. continues its Grand Slam jewelry partnership with Maria Sharapova by dressing her lobes with these Swing Triple drop earrings.

The brilliant pair (made with diamonds and platinum) complemented Maria’s Nike tuxedo-inspired outfit, both of which showcased the Russian’s fashion sensibilities in her first-round Wimbledon win over Frenchwoman Stephanie Foretz. Maria beat the qualifier 6-1, 6-4.

Buy: Tiffany Swing Triple drop earrings, $5,000, tiffany.com.

(image courtesy of Tiffany & Co.; Maria photo by Getty Images)

RELATED POSTS
>> is maria sharapova 2008 wearing maria kirilenko 2007?
>> TSF’s wimbledon coverage continues…

sharapova’s sheer beauty

Maria Sharapova walked onto Court One for her first round match in this 2008 Wimbledon tournament wearing an ensemble from the Nike White/Gold Wimbledon collection. Finally, the menswear-themed outfit she’d revealed a few days ago was in full display.

The jacket is a single-breasted white warm-up with gold stitching on the collar lapel and front edge; plus a tie belt. What an excellent progression from her French Open windbreaker capelet earlier this month.

“I love men’s wear in general,” Sharapova said Tuesday after beating French qualifier Stephanie Foretz 6-1, 6-4 in the first round. “I love tuxedo jackets.”

For whatever reason, she omitted the wide-leg trousers from the warm-up sequence. We’ll see if it makes an appearance in a later round.

And her sheer racerback top turns tuxedo with a bib front. Her low-rise shorts have a wide-tailored waistband (with tab closure), pinstripes, and gold-stitched buttons.

So why all this fancy schmancy tailoring? In a press release, Nike mentioned that Maria’s attire was inspired by London’s history of bespoke tailoring.

More pictures: Of her blouse as seen from the back, her shoes, and her bag. Plus buying information, all

fashion focus: nike digs into adidas archives for maria’s wimbledon kit

Maria Sharapova recently confirmed that she’ll mix up her Grand Slam outfits at this year’s Wimbledon by wearing shorts; she has so far only worn dresses to these big events.

The sleeveless pleated tuxedo top and the tailored shorts are perfect for the most formal of the Grand Slams, but we’re a little disappointed that this looks like Maria Kirilenko’s 2007 outfit: the tuxedo shirt dress from adidas by Stella McCartney.

What do you think of Sharapova’s kit?

(images via prodirecttennis.com)

RELATED POSTS
>> TSF’s wimbledon coverage

practice makes perfect: two weeks into grass

Jelena Jankovic in Reebok practicing at AELTC. The second seed is now the best woman never to have won a slam, according to Jon Wertheim.

Maria Sharapova is ready for another Wimbledon. Serena Williams has to contend with injury and sister Venus before getting back on the podium at this Grand Slam. Both are wearing super-casual Nike.

The defending (and four-time) champion wears EleVen to practice. Will we see her wearing hot pants when she raises her fifth Venus Rosewater Dish in two weeks?

Speaking of five-time winners, Roger Federer displays yet another cute Nike graphic tee for his hitting session.

Second seed Rafa Nadal, seen here working at Queen’s Club, will make the biggest dent against the Federer “Greatest of All Time” argument if the Spaniard wins the Wimbledon title (which he’s capable of doing).

Wimby sixth seed Andy Roddick wore this bright solid red Lacoste tee during practice at Queen’s Club.

Andy Murray steps up with some Fred Perry tees to go along with the buzz surrounding yet another quest for a Wimbledon title. Judging the field, this isn’t going to be Andy’s year.

Oh, Janko. You’re looking cute even in a plain Fila practice tee (which you wore at The Artois Championships). You’ll show off your tattoo, make someone swoon, and quietly go out during Wimbledon’s first week. That’s what you’re meant to do this coming fornight, and you’ll do it well.

More: Another Roger practice outfit

the sewta players’ party: wimbledon edition

Richard Branson hosted a pre-Wimbledon event for the ladies of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour on Thursday night at his Roof Gardens in West London.

Serena Williams keeps her pets secure in a Matthew Williamson gown while wearing 2.5 million Euros in Duttson diamonds.

Venus Williams looking glam in black.

Dani Hantuchova poses in off-the-shoulder brown.

Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic (no cell phones died in the making of her dress), and Sania Mirza.

(photos by Getty Images, Wireimage, Belga Picture)

RELATED POSTS
>> TSF’s wimbledon coverage continues

sharapova designs accessories for her sony ericsson Z555i phone

Maria Sharapova and Sony Ericsson gathered an international group of journalists Thursday for the unveiling of the Maria Sharapova Design Collection in London.

The four main pieces: the IDC-34 Travel Wallet, the IDC-33 Party Bag, the IDC-31 Courtside Case (all above), and the IDC-32 Exercise case below.

The showed the accessories used in three different settings: sporty, casual, and evening. They used a grey, pink, and brown color palette for the collection. The logo is a combination of a heart and an “S” (for Sharapova — get it?). Trying to get an image of that logo for you guys.

More: See a few more pictures

masha writes like my grandma

Maria Sharapova gives a presentation at Tuesday’s UK launch of Gatorade; the presser was held at a Wimbledon school.

(pics by Getty Images via TF.com)

short balls: santoro wants to shine, the fall of cruella de villiers, and centre court’s ready to go!

Ask and hope you receive? Since the clock’s a-tickin’ for Fabrice Santoro, he has asked Wimbledon organizers to schedule him a match on Centre Court — an honor that’s never been bestowed on this veteran in the 13 times he’s played this grass Grand Slam (espn.com)

Cruella de Villiers: It’s awesome to see the ATP’s top three — Roger, Rafa, and Nole — take charge and hope for spots in the Players’ Council. If they succeed in getting their hands in these dealings, it looks like CEO Etienne de Villiers will get the boot. (NYT)

Centre Court is ready to go: The fixed roof is back, along with the two main trusses for the retractable roof (which’ll debut in 2009). And a continued thumbs up for their increase in equal prize money for the men and the women.

Maria’s meek side: The Telegraph recently published an interview with the world No. 2. A few bits:

– She turned down a cameo role on Desperate Housewives.

– On her celebrity: “I still find my celebrity weird - it’s always weird, you know, when I see my image on the cover of a magazine. That’s very, very strange. I remember for a while I had been getting a lot of praise from people, but I never felt as though I deserved it until I had won grand slams and held the world No 1 ranking. And then I thought, ‘OK, all that talk, I understand it now’. But before then it was just random.” I hope she’s ready to possibly accept a Teen Choice Award for Female Athlete of the Year in early August.

– On the rigorous WTA travel schedule: “The worst thing about my life is not being able to see my friends and family for a long period. Living from hotel to hotel, it’s sometimes a nightmare. There have been numerous times when I’ve woken up in a hotel room and I’ve forgotten which city I’m in. So I’ll be phoning people at 2am to ask which city I’m in.”

Nole’s blogs: The Times’s interview with Nole touches on his blog. “Well I like to have fun with it,” he says. “Most of my fans are younger people and I don’t think they want to read stuff like ‘I played a good match today. My forehand was going well. My backhand was not so good’. These things are not interesting. What is interesting is what the players are doing in the locker rooms. Are they good guys? Bad guys? How are they off court? Of course, I never go too far with these things but always to the limit, just to make them laugh. I get a lot of positive feedback.” Awesome.

–

Why America is fat: Read about EaterLA’s post on the birth of the Starbucks Frappucino.

Beautiful acne: The oft-bowtied Alber Elbaz has jumped into bed with Acne, the Swedish denim brand who is also behind the reissue of Bjorn Borg’s iconic Tretorn shoes. This collaboration will drop at Barney’s and Bergdorf in November with jeans, dresses, tuxedo jackets, belted trenches, and a few accessories.

not for sale: maria’s couture jacket

TSF just got confirmation from Nike that Maria Sharapova’s Dark Obsidian jacket is part of the special on-court collection produced for the soon-to-be World No. 2. (Read: it’s not available to us plebes.)

Throw ‘em a bone: But of course there’s a mass-market version inspired by this one-off. The Match Point Jacket can be found at sheactive.com.

Sound bite: Asked to comment about losing the No. 1 ranking a mere week after it was handed to her by Justine Henin, Maria said, “boo hoo” — I love it!)

(photo by Tennishead for TSF)

fashion focus: rafa’s off-court marquer l’histoire polo

Rafael Nadal turns 22 today. The folks at Roland Garros threw him a little party with a fancy cake and gave him a portrait by artist Frederique Lorin.

And thanks to malimeda for this bit: “Check out the white Nike tee that Rafa is wearing: it has 4 years written on it (from 2005 to 2008), the first 3 crossed through for his 3 wins at RG, this year left unmarked (yet!). Underneath it’s written in French: marquer l’histoire (to mark history) and a Nike swoosh. The shirt is available in blue as well: Rafa wore both during his press conferences.”

This is how the marketing campaign appears on Nike’s tennis landing page.

Boo hoo: It doesn’t look like Rafa’s shirt is for sale. Neither is Maria’s jacket.

(photos by Getty Images)

it’s not sharapover until the top lady shrieks, aka maria’s bag and jacket

Top seed Maria Sharapova got booed as she left the court after her 7-6 (6), 6-7 (5), 2-6 loss to fellow Russian Dinara Safina in the fourth round of the French Open.

FYI, the 22-year-old Safina also ousted Sharapova from the fourth round of Roland Garros in 2006. Is this Dinara’s year to follow in the footsteps of her brother, Marat, who won his first Grand Slam title (U.S. Open ‘00) in his early 20s?

Maria wore a navy blue cape windbreaker from Nike over her Paris Dress. You can’t get any classier than that.

She also keeps the same bag silhouette as she has for the last few Grand Slams.

(photos by Tennishead for TSF)

practice makes perfect: Roland Garros

Maria wears the men’s version of this season’s Nirvana hoodie from Nike.

Buy: There’s also a women’s version available. Both at Nike.com starting at $30.99.

Another tee.

Here’s the backside of that practice tee Roger Federer played with in Hamburg. Yep, that’s a picture of him hitting a forehand. Very meta.

And here’s a striped polo that he wore today.

On Rafa, a cute tee, but I don’t know where to find it. Instead, I offer some alternatives:

The Nike Challenge Court tees reissued. Get ‘em here and here for $25 a pop.

Or the Heritage Summer tee, complete with Nike’s French Open logo (the rooster), also for $25 at nike.com.

Masha to wear Tiffany at Roland Garros

For the French, Masha will wear Tiffany & Co. designer Elsa Peretti’s Wave earrings in 18K gold.

The jewelry complements Maria’s 20s-inspired Paris Dress from Nike, the back of which is adorned with a Tiffany pearl button closure. (Classy!)

This is also the beginning of a two-year partnership between the current world No. 1 and the jewelry giant; Masha will step onto the court of all the Grand Slams wearing Tiffany earrings, which’ll also be sold at Tiffany stores under the Tiffany for Maria Sharapova collection.

Buy: You can grab a pair of the RG earrings here for $1,150. Also available in white gold.

The Paris Dress, from what I can tell, is currently sold out.

(image from tiffany.com)

RELATED POSTS
>> venus’ gigantor earrings in melbourne
>> wimbledon jewelry collection debuts
>> bring on the bling: serena at the u.s. open
>> masha’s earrings at the 2008 australian open

when in rome…

If you’re Maria Sharapova, there is really only one way to announce your withdrawal from the Italian Open in Rome:

First, you wear a tank designed by your gal pal Camilla Belle in collaboration with Brazilian designer Carlos Miele to benefit Rainforest Foundation US. FYI, the shirt reads “The death of the forest is the end of our life,” a quote by environmental activist Sister Dorothy Stang.

You round that out by carrying a Large Muse Two from Yves Saint Laurent.

Buy: The YSL bag, with croc-embossed leather and beige canvas, is available for $1,895 at YSL.com.

You can pick up the rainforest tee here (the tank version is also available). The pieces, along with those designed by actress Scarlett Johansson and model Caroline Trentini, are also for sale at Carlos Miele boutiques.

More: Learn more about Rainforest Foundation US.

(photo by Getty Images; additional info by The Purse Blog)

Masha = new number one?!?!

Apparently the brouhaha between Maria Sharapova and the WTA over that photo shoot in Rome is old news. Masha’s done venting (via her blog — how 21st century of her), she’s done posing (a 90-minute photo shoot, down from the 5 hours initially scheduled), and she’s now ready to prove her clay mettle at the Foro Italico.

She took out Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the first round. Also, she switched her Paris Tank and Skort from the Blue Chill of earlier this season to Dark Obsidian/Lilac Ice ($55; nike.com).

By the way, I know these top tier girls don’t really pay attention to their rankings (or at least they pretend not to when asked during press conferences), so I’d like to point out that Masha is taking over the top spot if Justine Henin, like Kim Clijsters, has requested her name be taken off the rankings list immediately.

Sharapova celebrates her 21st in Lanvin

Maria Sharapova celebrated her 21st birthday at Tenjune last night with a party thrown by Tag Heuer and attended by her nearest and dearest, which included Michelle Trachtenberg, a compact Dave Annable, Vera Wang, Anna Wintour, Doo.ri, and the duo behind Ruffian. The invitation-only crowd danced to the music of DJ Cassidy What’s up with Tenjune being the favored venue of tennis players to party?

Masha looked good wearing a blue Lanvin dress from the Spring 2008 RTW. She continues to flirt with loose fabric, this time in the form of a mini-train that went down the back of her outfit. It’s the Wimbledon swan dress all over again!

She added a tiara, a vintage clutch, and a pair of black, peep-toe Louboutins to round out the look.

More photos: Click here.