MaSha_Ñés passion for fashion
Originally published on: 02/07/12 00:00
This extract from 'MaSha's passion for fashion' featured in the April 2012 edition of tennishead magazine. For more details on how to subscribe, click here.
How involved are you in the design of the clothing?
I probably have more meetings with Nike than any of my other brand sponsors. I’m very involved because I think it ’s very important. They didn’t have a junior line when I started so I found myself rolling up the extra small skirt and trying to «Înd tops that weren’t hanging off of me and weren’t created into dresses with a belt! Now I see my collection as something that I wish [I had been] able to put on and feel good in when I was their age at that time. So I have that perspective of designing for someone who is 13-14 years old to someone who is playing doubles every week at a club. There’s so much diversity in these women and their bodies and for me it ’s a real challenge to design something that’s appropriate in terms of style and «Ît, which is probably the most important thing.
Are there any particular things you wouldn’t have on a dress?
I don’t like too much volume. Pleats are very elegant but when you use too many of them it becomes more of a short show instead of a dress show! It ’s just «Înding that balance between the edginess in a dress and performance when you are playing and making sure you are comfortable with what you are wearing.
As well as the design, do you work on the principle that when you are playing you don’t want to be focused on anything other than the game?
Exactly. You have to be comfortable with what you have on, how you look and how you feel so you know that when you go on the court there’s nothing else to think about but your game. It’s really about that inner con«Îdence. Especially when you are wearing something that you are comfortable with, there’s no doubt you’re going to feel free when you’re out there.
How much has technology changed in the time you have been playing?
I’ve seen materials and technology evolve in so many ways, whether it ’s footwear, product development. I remember a few years ago at Wimbledon on my back we had a sweat pattern that was the shape of a «Îower. You didn’t see it before we started the match but when I started playing I was sweating and the petals would start opening and you would see the form of a flower.
Do you have a favourite dress? Have you hung on to any of your old dresses?
All of them. My closet in Florida has all my dresses lined up! I have this one little pink dress that I wore when I was 15 years old that I can't even put over my neck right now! I think, ‘How did I ever wear this?’
Why do you hang on to them?
It creates certain memories and I love clothes. To me, what I wear is almost like art. I’m so happy that in tennis you don’t have to wear uniforms and really what you're wearing expresses what you were thinking when you were designing that product. I don’t know, it brings back really good memories – some bad, because you lost in certain out«Îts (laughs) – but I have them all in a row of when I wore them…….
…The rest of this interview featured in the April 2012 edition of tennishead magazine. For more details on how to subscribe, click here
Now get the WORLD’S BEST TENNIS MAGAZINE here
