Venus Williams

OUTFIT
Reebok's contour strap dress, with athletic halter styling and cutaway sides, shown here in mango.

BREAKDOWN
Reebook's rather outr� outfits are designed both to show off Williams 's athletic physique and to start off-court chatter by pushing the traditional tennis design envelope. "We were looking to create something fresh," says Reebok's Dianne Hayes. "Tennis needs to move forward. What people are asking for these days isn't the traditional pleated skirt and top." Williams , a part-time student at the Art Institute of Florida in Miami , helped design the outfit with Reebok's Ingrid Bornheimer-Smith. "Venus is showing more skin than she had before," says Bornheimer-Smith. "What she's wearing now is definitely racy."

CRITIQUE
"Like Venus , the dress makes a statement of confidence," says former pro Anne White , best known for her white Wimbledon unitard in 1985. "I suggest she get a matching pashmina to wrap around her shoulders postmatch."