Talk about an ace! Tennis legend Serena Williams opened the Vogue World runway show tonight wearing a curve-skimming custom Balenciaga tank dress with a cape in silver laminated jersey. This was no solo debut though: the Vogue cover star was accompanied by four ball girls who were wearing white tennis dresses accessorized with, of course, rackets. As Williams walked, a recording of her voice from an interview with NBC about the 2000 Wimbledon match tournament played. “I want people to remember me as the girl who changed tennis or just was able to bring something new to the game.”
Williams has been wearing Balenciaga plenty, recently. On the cover of the Vogue September issue, Williams announced that she was stepping back from the sport in a custom icy blue Balenciaga gown.
Williams has long been an integral part of the fashion-verse. Her on-the-court looks have shattered age-old traditions of what tennis gear “should” look like. In recent years, she’s appeared on the court in a boldly colored catsuit by Nike and a tutu with a one-sleeved top designed by the late Virgil Abloh. Beyond the court, Williams’s fashion is still a force: Who can forget when she wore Nike x Off-White sneakers with a blazing yellow gown to the Met Gala in 2019?
This also isn’t the first time that Williams has taken the runway: For fall 2022, the longtime Abloh muse walked in the Off-White fall 2022 show. But as for this runway moment? It’s as glamorous and powerful as we’ve come to expect from Williams.
