adidas at the French Open decided to put its athletes in "eye-boggling black-and-white zebra stripes" as part of its Y-3 collection, according to Vanessa Friedman of the N.Y. TIMES. Simona Halep, who today lost to Samantha Stosur, "wears them on a top with a black ruffled skirt and suspenders," while Ana Ivanovic "had a striped-all-over tank dress with a trompe l’oeil drape at the waist." Meanwhile, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga "wears them in a shirt and shoes." The looks are "pretty unexpected," especially when compared with Nike, which chose to outfit its players "in a surprisingly muted -- even dull -- palette of blue." Part of the shock surrounding adidas' apparel also "comes from seeing these clothes in France, the home of fashion." Each of the four big slams "has its own fashion identity," and the French Open traditionally is "more elegant." The Paris runways were "full of tiger stripes last season," but this particular translation is "so unsubtle as to be silly." The players "look like refugees from a 1980s disco party" (NYTIMES.com, 5/27). TENNIS.com's Jonathan Scott wrote the Y-3 collection is "said to be based on warships' exterior patterns of the 1930 and ‘40s, intended to disguise their exact sizes and locations." But if you "have to explain the inspiration in so many press releases and blog posts, it's probably not a hit" (TENNIS.com, 5/30).
