FRANKLY, whatever other delights Euro 96 may offer, fashion has not been well served by soccer this season. Nor has Manchester United's regular change of colour (and its players intermittent change of haircut) really offered enough to satisfy style followers. Thank goodness, therefore, that other sports offer more delights, not least the Wimbledon tennis championships which start today.
Wimbledon offers a sartorial challenge because its rules insist that all players should dress in predominantly white clothing. The only exception permitted is a coloured cardigan, sweater or headband last year, a Union Jack version of the last of these was sported by Britain's Greg Rusedski. There's nothing like a restriction to encourage imaginative approaches to dressing. Look at Pete Sampras turning up in a fine check shirt and baggy shorts almost to the knee. And, most famously of all, remember the stir caused by Andre Agassi back in 1991 when he turned up at Wimbledon wearing a pair of lycra running shorts under his tennis clothes. Others have opted for a more cautious approach; a young Bjorn Borg - who now produces a range of underwear for both men and women - turned up in 1974 with his short sleeved shirt trimmed in pink, while two years' later, Jimmy Connors sported a bowler hat on court.
While women now often look more conservative in their dress, they have in the past taken an adventurous approach to the Wimbledon dress code. Most strikingly, in 1985 the American player Anne White turned up on court in a one piece white bodysuit. It failed to meet with approval and she was not permitted to wear the garment at Wimbledon again. Although separates are now popular among women players, for a long time the preferred option was a smart dress of the kind worn by Virginia Wade in the 1970s. Could the tennis dress be on its way back? A few week's ago at the French Open, the host country's Mary Pierce appeared wearing a sleeveless black dress with fine white stripes and square cut neckline. The outfit caused a major stir amongst onlookers with Steffi Graf being reported afterwards as saying "I think it's more suitable for the beach than the tennis court." Pierce will obviously need to rethink her fashion strategy for Wimbledon. In any case, the colour alone would militate against a second viewing this week.