Venus Sounds Off On Olympic Fashion
Venus Williams, a four-time Olympic gold medalist and designer, sat down with Racked ahead of the Olympic Games to discuss her design empire, which covers everything from fashion to interior design.
She’s been at the helm of EleVen by Venus since 2007, but she admitted that sometimes it’s still a struggle to be taken seriously as a designer – good thing her favorite pastime is proving doubters wrong.
“It’s interesting. Because people know your name, you can get pigeonholed into being perceived a certain way. And that’s OK,” she told Racked. “People are like, “She’s a great athlete, but does it translate to design?” And actually, it does! They find out about me and the great team we have and you can see the light bulb go off.”
Venus also maintained that she’s still involved in the day-to-day happenings of EleVen, even despite the constant travel required in competing at the highest levels of women’s tennis.
“I was in the office yesterday and we’re working on fall ’17 now, so we’ve started the process of understanding what our color story is, what our prints are,” she explained to Racked. “From there, we start to work with the sales team. What do people really like? What do we want to bring back, and what are the new pieces? We look at colors and prints and actual fabrics. Then it gets refined and refined and refined.
“I also take my sketchbooks on the road and I’m constantly sketching.”
You can see her finished product on the court as she competes for a shot at a medal in the mixed doubles semifinal at the Olympic tennis event in Rio.
But wish you could wear those red, white and blues yourself? The entire ensemble is available at Tennis Warehouse – it even includes Venus’ gold pendant and a certificate of authenticity.
Here it is in action on the four-time gold medalist herself:
Venus also designed a separate outfit for doubles:
Click here to visit Tennis Warehouse and check out more Olympic styles and tennis gear.
– All photos courtesy of Getty Images
