Sorry Haters, Grigor Dimitrov’s Aussie Open Fashion was Good
Let fashion be bold. Let fashion be great.
It was the late design icon Coco Chanel who said “in order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.” When Coco Chanel speaks, the world should listen. Now, I may have only signed up for StitchFix in 2019 and it’s possible that yes, I do return every item they send me except jeans and grey knit sweaters, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have eyes, or that I do not appreciate bold beauty.
Enter Grigor Dimitrov, everyone’s favorite tennis boyfriend* and all around nice-boy-worth-supporting.
The Bulgarian made a choice for this year’s Australian Open in Melbourne, and that choice was to surprise and delight.
Now, you may look at this tracksuit and think wow, that’s too much. You’re wrong — it’s exactly the correct amount of much. Nike outfitted Grigor in deep-blue, adorned with messy yellow dots that evoke a ball mid-bounce, or popping corn.
Does it spark anxiety at a mere glance? Yes. Is it dizzying in a way that’s uncomfortable for a tennis blogger currently recovering from a concussion? I can confirm, yes. But is it a bad outfit? Oh reader, absolutely not.
Dimitrov himself has evoked the spirit of Coco Chanel in his discussion of the tracksuit. “I love experimenting,” the Bulgarian said, somewhat tantalisingly. “I don’t want to be vanilla.”
There you have it. The purpose of this look was to embrace the kinkier side of tracksuits. That mission? Accomplished.
The tracksuit sparked horror on social media and among tennis fans, but then, doesn’t all new fashion spark horror when it first emerges? Was Coco herself never interrogated for the innovation of the Little Black Dress?
Controversial as it may be for we 21st century observers, Dimitrov has time and history on his side.
Those who weren’t upset by Grigor’s tracksuit were further troubled by the shirt hidden underneath — a patchwork of red and pink and salmon(?) and black, scattered over a white base to form a multi-colored-giraffe-o-gram straight out of a nightmare sequence from Winnie-the-Pooh.
And it’s lovely!
Unfortunately, Dimitrov’s fantastic fashion is no longer a feature of the 2020 Australian Open, courtesy of a second round loss to America’s Tommy Paul in five tough sets.
To add insult to injury, Paul won the match wearing a direct replica of Grigor’s tracksuit. Fashion, it turns out, outlives us all.
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*not Serena.
