The sporty-chic style known as tennis core is taking over the courts and social media feeds this season. It’s just the latest trend to show that being rich is always in fashion.
The new tennis film Challengers served as a major catalyst for the tenniscore revival, packed with literal tennis players and characters portraying the old money aesthetic. The film’s star and producer, Zendaya, promoted the film wearing tennis clothes herself: V-neck sweaters, tennis skirts, terrycloth and other preppy looks.
Celebrities and influencers dress like you would at the country club or on the tennis court: in chic clothes with subtle but expensive watches and tennis bracelets. Tennis player Ayan Broomfield and tennis player girlfriend Morgan Riddle are big trendsetters in the field of tennis, just like content creator Emily Oberg with her Sporty and Rich athleisure brand. Princess Diana’s ever-immortal Wimbledon style is another major source of inspiration.
The fact that the weather is ideally suited to outdoor racquet sports, including tennis and ultra-trendy pickleball, certainly adds to the quest for versatile yet stylish clothing. Much of the aesthetic of tennis enthusiasts exudes an air of leisure and luxury – and what could be more luxurious than leisure?
“Tenni score is about looking like you never have to lift a finger, but have had private lessons in how to use a racket since childhood,” Esquire’s Trishna Rikhy wrote about the trend.
Quiet luxury, the “stealth wealth” aesthetic defined by neutral colors and high-end clothing items, was one of the biggest trends of 2023. The “old money” aesthetic dominated the summer of 2023, and the Hamptons-chic “coastal grandma” trend took over in summer 2022. Even winter’s popular “mafia woman” fashion trend included expensive fur coats and over-the-top statement jewelry.
Retail expert and boutique founder Carmen Lopez told Yahoo Entertainment that dressing like you’re rich will always be trendy.
“Clothes have become deeply ingrained in society, signifying your place in the world and shaping your self-perception and behavior,” she said. “Whether we like it or not, fashion judgment is part of our society.”
That’s why wearing luxury brand items and easily recognizable expensive pieces is so trendy: they are a “sign of status and success,” Lopez explains. They are not meant to be affordable or accessible to the masses to protect their luxury reputation.
Alex Frankel, a fashion influencer and model, told Yahoo Entertainment that these trends could be popular because it’s much easier to control how you dress than how much money is in your bank account.
“As ridiculous as some of these trends are, participating in them is escapist and aspirational,” he explained. “It’s a way of saying, ‘This is what I want my life to be like.’”
He said people with higher disposable incomes have access to the “broadest spectrum of options for self-expression,” making it easy for them to keep up with the trend, while those in classes below them aspire to the same level of access.
“[These] micro trends like tennis core and quiet luxury are all trying to signal the same thing: status and wealth,” Danielle Vermeer, co-founder and CEO of thrift app Teleport, told Yahoo Entertainment.
She noted that, according to a study by the American Marketing Association, people who are actually wealthy and have a “high status” don’t care about communicating their wealth to people outside their social bubbles — it’s the people who go to wealth seekers who feel as if they have to look expensive. It’s what fashion writer Cora Harrington calls “rich people cosplay.”
The fact that the aesthetic of the wealthy is consistently trendy says more about the lives we want than it does about our sense of personal style.
