Aussie Open 09’s Most Improved Award goes to Ms. Elena Dementieva, who’s languished in Yonex‘s utilitarian and generic performance wear for a while now. The creatives seemed to find their stride late last year, first with the “denim” dress at the 2008 U.S. Open, and now this orange-heavy outfit for the first major of 2009.
Mixing it up: What this dress lacks in color variation it makes up for in construction, detail, and fabrics. A keyhole breaks up the orange on the back of the v-neck top; and in the front, a fabric belt — it doesn’t quite cinch — aspired to give the outfit a more sophisticated look.
Scoreline: The fourth seed dashed Australian hopes by eliminating Sam Stosur in round three. She then took out fellow orange-wearer Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2 in the fourth round. She blew through Carla Suarez Navarro with the same score and will now face Serena in the semis.
Buy: This Yonex collection is not quite ready for sale. (Why aren’t these items ready in time for such a big debut? There’s an editorial brewing there…)
More: Detail shots of the skirt and back after the cut…
(images via Getty Images)
Compared to some of the horrific mess we have had here at Oz, I liked Elena’s dress a lot, particularly the sharp colour. Ivanovic and Jankovic had the worst dresses, by far.
Nothing wrong with the orange per se–just the same ill-fit from Yonex. Honestly, who in the hell would buy the stuff she wears if Yionex can’t even custom make one to fit their “model”–much less the tennis playing masses! The denim from USO was bad , but the very worst was the Wimby outfit. Elena yanked and puilled after every serve.
You’re right. I’ve always thought Dementieva’s dresses look strange on her and I’ve never realized that it’s because they accentuate her long torso. She’s been with Yonex for so long that they should try harder.
I don’t really like this dress but I don’t know if it’s the dress specifically or the dress on Dementieva. I feel like the proportions of the dress are off; the top is too long and the skirt is too short. Elena has a long torso and I feel the dress just accentuates that.