The dress problem once again emerged in the work space. Of course, the latest turmoil was the storm on Serena Williams’s tennis racket wearing the French Open last weekend. The French tennis federation chairman Bernard Judithelli apparently did not fully “respect the game.” Billy King Kim’s tweet says social media’s anger and eloquence on “regulation of women’s bodies” soar.

However, as the US Open began to appear in the shadow of that scene (in any case, Ms. Williams personally challenged, who knows one or two things about rotation), I can’t help wondering if we all missed the woods. Because thinking about the bodysuit hoo-ha raises another broader issue.

Why, in 2018, performance clothing is actually a science itself, sneakers are the reality of designer’s staple food and gender flowing clothing, and female tennis players still experience the act of wearing a little fabric around the hips in order to suggest a dress ?

Its clothing is equivalent to the residual tail.

Consider Nike looking like Simona Halep (who lost the game in the first round) and returning to the champion Sloan Stephens. The two draped skirts of the “dress” are pulled over the waist and patterned compression shorts. When women are in motion, because they are usually on the field, this gap has the effect of turning the “dress” into something most like the outside world might call the upper part of the waist. Still a long shirt.

Nike Court Design Director Abby Swancutt explained in an email: “Our skirt is very happy.” “It’s designed to open on the left hip, providing athletes with the widest range of movements, this silhouette also highlights the beautiful folds of the skirt. The structure and the shortness of the tie-dyed ball. The shorter length does help the widest range of movement.”

However, at this point, “slightly shorter” has become so succinct that the resulting clothing will never become a dress for anyone outside. It’s not just Nike, but also the Stella McCartney style of Adidas and the traditional look of Fila’s starlight, as well as some other US Open fashion launches. They are even barely qualified to be robes.

of course there are exceptions. Ms. Virgil Abro of Williams is a Nike asymmetric tulle tutu that looks like something the “Swan Lake” Little Swan might wear if she suddenly develops a transparent fabric of the yen, while Maria Sharapova The LBD is strategically backlit and cut into identifiable cocktail silhouettes.

But the overall effect is a nominal dress. That is to say, there was once a purpose of clothing – hiding female athletes in socially acceptable gender markers, so that her power is somewhat less threatening – but no longer serves it.