WITH Wimbledon only days away, it's time to retire the wags, scrummies and birdies for quite a different breed, says Alice Wyllie
WHEN Andy Murray lifted the trophy at London's Queens Club tournament on Sunday, the television cameramen couldn't resist cutting to his girlfriend, Kim Sears, clapping ecstatically alongside his mother, Judy Murray.
For the past three years, as
tennis fans have watched Murray's star rise, they've also seen more and more of the beautiful but understated Sears who, along with other tennis wives and girlfriends, is a member of the newest band of sporting spouses: the Twags.
It was in 2006 when a group of well-groomed young women gathered at a hotel in Baden Baden to support their football-playing husbands and boyfriends – England's first team – at the World Cup that the term Wags became the instantly identifiable shorthand for the wives and girlfriends of the country's highest-earning players. These were women who knew the importance of high heels and heated hair-rollers, and could have sycophantic shop assistants dribbling with just a flash of their partner's platinum credit card.
Since then, there's been a growing obsession with the female partners of male sports stars in the media. There's the scrummies (rugby) the birdies (golf) and now the Twags. Like Victoria Beckham before her, 21-year-old student Kim Sears is destined to lead this merry band of bouncy-haired women, whether she likes it or not.
With Wimbledon starting on Monday, all eyes in Scotland are now on Murray, with hopes higher than ever that he will become the first Brit to scoop the men's singles title since Fred Perry managed it in 1936. Tennis is fashionable again, in every sense of the word, and followers of fashion will be keeping a close eye on players and their partners both on and off the courts.
Tennis has been a source of sartorial inspiration for nearly a century. Designers including Chanel, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger have all made nods to the sport in past collections, and Anna Wintour, US Vogue's editor-in-chief and the most powerful woman in fashion, has eagerly watched her friend Roger Federer play on numerous occasions.
Fashion on the court has come a long way since Shakespeare described tennis attire as "tall stockings, short blist'red breeches," in Henry VIII. In 1919, Suzanne Lenglen won the Wimbledon title wearing a knee-length dress with three-quarter-length sleeves, a "shocking" ensemble which reportedly prompted many female spectators to walk out.
Fast forward nearly 90 years, and in 2007 Maria Sharapova competed in the US Open wearing a Nike dress encrusted with 600 Swarovski crystals.
In between, we've seen lace-trimmed pants (on "Gorgeous" Gussy Moran at Wimbledon in 1949), a white unitard (on Anne White at Wimbledon in 1985) hot pink (on Andre Agassi at the French Open in 1990) and leopard print (on Bethanie Mattek at the US Open in 2004). This year, all eyes will be on Rafael Nadal's hemline – will he be ditching his long, surfer-style shorts this year in favour of a thigh-flashing pair?
Most importantly, what should the aspiring Twag be wearing this summer? Where the footballers' wives favour big handbags and bigger hair, the Twag is an altogether subtler breed of sporting spouse. Witness Sears on Sunday in understated Ray-Ban Wayfarers, relaxed hair and a floaty top. The typical Twag will opt for honey-hued highlights instead of platinum-blonde extensions, French Sole flats instead of Christian Louboutin heels, and Ralph Lauren instead of Dolce & Gabbana.
Where Victoria Beckham recently turned up to watch husband David play carrying a diamond-encrusted Hermes Kelly bag worth £80,000, the Twag is more likely to tote a discreet Longchamp shopper. Pashminas are de rigueur, as is high-maintenance hair masquerading as low-maintenance hair.
One thing that both sets of women have in common, however, is the obligatory pair of enormous black sunglasses.
Necessary for concealing boredom when a match crosses the four-hour point as much as for maintaining an air of mystique, they can be pushed atop one's head between sets to complete the Sloaney aesthetic adored by so many British Twags (see Lucy Henman, wife of Tim, in pearls and pashmina circa 2004.)
Bec Cartwright – actress, pop star and wife of Australian player Lleyton Hewitt – may be an favourite with lads' mag FHM, but she goes for a laid-back beachy look courtside; Maria Francisca Perello, girlfriend of superstar Rafael Nadal, favours a baseball cap, white shirt and pastel cardigan. Brooklyn Decker may be a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, but when she watches her husband Andy Roddick play, she opts for simple chic every time.
Completing the Twag look is lashings of Estee Lauder's factor 50 SPF sunscreen (red nose plus white eyes is never a good look) and of course the Tense Hands (palms pressed together as if praying, thumbs touching nose) and the Happy Hands (fists clenched, elbows at 90 degrees, forearms perpendicular to the floor) seen before and after winning crucial points, respectively.
While we're looking forward to spending the next month obsessing over Andy Murray's every move, we must confess that the we'll also be scanning the crowd at Centre Court for the best-dressed Twags.
Indeed we admire the Wags' unapologetic quest for faked femininity – and they've certainly got the biggest balls – but in the fashion department, it's a sartorial game, set and match to the Twags.
