The tenniscore fashion trend traces back to a single, scandalous photograph from Wimbledon 1919 — Suzanne Lenglen stepping onto Centre Court in a calf-length pleated dress, bare arms, and a silk bandeau tied round her forehead. Everything you’re seeing on Instagram right now, the pleated skirts, the cardigans-as-outerwear, the sweatbands worn as headbands, started there.
Key Takeaways
- The tenniscore fashion trend didn’t start on TikTok — it started with Suzanne Lenglen at Wimbledon in 1919.
- Fred Perry and René Lacoste turned court kit into everyday polo shirts by the 1930s and ’50s.
- Björn Borg’s headband-and-Fila combo made the 1970s look the most bootlegged tennis outfit in history.
- Indian airports and street style right now are quietly running the same playbook — pleats, polos and visors, off the court.
Who Really Started the Tenniscore Fashion Trend?
Pull up the archive photo. Lenglen is mid-stride, racquet loose in one hand, and her dress stops well above the ankle — for 1919, that was basically streaking. Women played in corsets and full-length skirts before her. She showed up in something a dancer would wear.
Look closer at the bandeau. It wasn’t a fashion flourish, it was function — she needed her hair out of her eyes to actually win. That’s the whole tenniscore fashion trend in one frame: performance wear that accidentally became the most copied silhouette in sport. Designer Jean Patou dressed her, and by the early 1920s, French vogue was chasing “the Lenglen look” off the court entirely.
She won six Wimbledon singles titles between 1919 and 1925, and honestly, half the reason people remember her at all is that photograph.
How Did Fred Perry and René Lacoste Turn Court Wear Into Streetwear?
Fast forward a decade. Fred Perry, three-time Wimbledon champion in the 1930s, is the reason your dad still owns a polo with a laurel wreath on the chest. Before him, players wore long-sleeved button shirts to play in — sweaty, impractical, borderline unhinged for a five-set match.
René Lacoste did the same thing in France, minus the crocodile logo, which came later as a nod to his on-court nickname. Both men essentially invented the idea that sportswear could leave the court and sit comfortably in a wardrobe. That’s tenniscore fashion trend logic decades before the phrase existed — take the uniform, strip the sweat, sell the silhouette.
Why Did Björn Borg’s Headband Become a ’70s Icon?
If Lenglen was the origin story, Borg was the fever dream. Five straight Wimbledon titles from 1976 to 1980, hair down to his shoulders, a terry-cloth headband, and a Fila kit with racing stripes down the sleeve. Teenage girls screamed for him like he was in a band.
The headband wasn’t styling either — same as Lenglen’s bandeau, it kept sweat out of his eyes during brutal five-setters. But the effect was pure rockstar. Every off-duty tennis photo from that era is basically cosplay of Borg, and honestly, every gym-bro headband today owes him royalties.
What Happened When Serena Williams Wore That Catsuit on Centre Court?
Jump to the modern era. Serena Williams walked out at the 2018 French Open in a black Nike catsuit — designed, she said later, partly for post-pregnancy blood clot protection — and the French Tennis Federation politely lost its mind, tightening dress-code language soon after. The outfit was banned in all but name.
Wimbledon has its own famously strict all-white rule, which you can read straight from the official Wimbledon dress code, and it’s exactly why every “shocking” tennis fashion moment for the last century has actually happened at the French or US Open instead — Centre Court barely lets you breathe colour, let alone controversy.
Williams turned that catsuit moment into a statement anyway. That’s the through-line of the whole tenniscore fashion trend: someone tries to make a point about comfort or safety, and it accidentally becomes the season’s most talked-about look.
Tennis Style Eras At A Glance
| Era | Icon | Signature Piece | Still Trending As |
| 1919–1925 | Suzanne Lenglen | Pleated dress, silk bandeau | Pleated tennis skirts, headbands |
| 1930s–1950s | Fred Perry, René Lacoste | Piqué polo shirt | Logo polos, preppy layering |
| 1970s–1980s | Björn Borg | Terry headband, striped kit | Retro sweatbands, varsity stripes |
| 1990s | Andre Agassi | Denim shorts, neon | Y2K sporty revival |
| 2010s–2020s | Serena Williams, Venus Williams | Catsuits, tutu skirts | Bold silhouettes on courtwear |
Why Is the Tenniscore Fashion Trend Back on Indian Streets Right Now?
Here’s my original take, and you’re free to argue with me on Instagram: red carpets lie, airports don’t. Watch any Bollywood star’s arrival look this festive season — pleated mini skirts with oversized cardigans, visors pushed up like they just left a match, chunky white sneakers. Nobody’s dressing “sporty” for comfort on a flight. They’re dressing tenniscore because it photographs as effortless money.
Malls chasing the “festive fashion” crowd right now are leaning the same way — clean whites, pleats, polo collars sneaking into kurta silhouettes. It’s not an accident that the tenniscore fashion trend keeps resurfacing every few years; it’s the one sport-luxe formula that reads as rich without trying too hard, and Indian shoppers have clocked that faster than most.
Give it a season and you’ll see the bandeau again too — just rebranded as a “hair scarf.”
FAQ
What exactly is the tenniscore fashion trend?
It’s a style built on tennis-court staples — pleated skirts, polo shirts, headbands, cardigans and clean white sneakers — worn off the court as everyday or red-carpet fashion.
Who is credited with starting tennis fashion?
Suzanne Lenglen, at Wimbledon in 1919, is widely credited as the first tennis style icon, thanks to her pleated dress and bandeau.
Why does Wimbledon require all-white outfits?
The all-white dress code dates back to Victorian-era etiquette around modesty and sweat visibility, and Wimbledon still enforces it strictly today.
Is tenniscore the same as normcore?
No. Normcore is deliberately plain and unbranded; tenniscore leans into sporty polish — pleats, logos and clean silhouettes borrowed specifically from tennis wear.
Why did Serena Williams’ catsuit get banned?
The French Tennis Federation tightened its dress code after her 2018 French Open catsuit, saying outfits should “respect the game,” though she’d worn it partly for health reasons.
So next time someone calls tenniscore a “new” trend, just send them the Lenglen photo. A hundred years later, we’re still copying her bandeau — we’ve just started calling it aesthetic instead of practical.