SPORTS AND FASHION

                                            Sports and Fashion

If you want to be cynical, you could say that the fashion industry is glomming on to sports, and its stars, because that’s the last means of communicating to a wide audience. Designers see Reese, they see Tatum, they see dollar signs. Sure. But isn’t the cynical explanation also the Pollyanna one? Why wouldn’t the fashion industry want to be in business with people who represent the values of hard work and authenticity? Who give us, at a moment when many of us find this rather difficult, something to believe in?

“I feel like we got to represent the best of America,” Thomas says to me, reflecting on her Olympics experience. “Focused on what brings us together—our dedication, our resilience, our passion for what we do. I felt pride, pride for my country.”

And on the flip side, as someone who loves fashion, I believe it has more to offer athletes than help with their personal brands. Consider the frilled and bow-bedecked looks Naomi Osaka wore when she made her comeback at last year’s US Open. According to Yoon Ahn, the Ambush designer who collaborated with Osaka and Nike to create the head-turning ensembles, brainstorming began two years ago, not long after Osaka gave birth. She talked to Ahn about motherhood, about wanting to connect to her Japanese roots, about the pressures of professional tennis. “I wanted to give her an outfit that got her away from the pressure,” Ahn explains, “and made her feel like a little girl again walking out on to the court.

“You can be a vessel, you can be a shield; you can make armor,” Ahn goes on. “You empower them. That’s what fashion can do for sport.”