Fashion and sport may have once appeared to be poles apart, but their distinctive crossovers have resonated with both sports fans and fashion lovers around the world. It is the gymnasts, sprinters, basketball players, soccer, and tennis players who now make the boldest sartorial statements.
Vogue World 2024 in Paris celebrated this dynamic intersection between sport and style, casting world-renowned athletes as fashion’s leading stars. Tennis icon Venus Williams stunned in a custom Marine Serre design crafted from recycled tennis bags, highlighting both innovation and sustainability. Fellow tennis great Maria Sharapova stunned in a sleek white jumpsuit by Schiaparelli, while NBA sensation Victor Wembanyama closed the show in an all-white Louis Vuitton suit designed by Pharrell Williams.
While the relationship between fashion and sport has opened doors for luxe brands to tap into more mainstream culture and youth, sports stars have also realised that they are not only celebrated for their talent on the field, but how they rank in the style stakes.
Enter agencies that specialise in “image architecture” and NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness value) to connect these elite athletes with luxury fashion brands. French agency L’AM’s prestigious client list includes, among others, Monegasque F1 driver Charles Leclerc and Olympic fencer, Sara Balzer, who is now an ambassador for Dior and Messika.
LVMH’s 10-year Global Luxury Partnership with Formula 1 cost the luxury goods empire $1,6 billion and epitomises the convergence of high performance and luxury. The group also sponsored last year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. According to Louis Vuitton, the sponsorship generated 17 times more value for the brand than their average content. Visually impaired Paralympic sprinter Timothée Adolphe was also named the first Paralympian ambassador for the Louis Vuitton brand, a historic move “which perfectly demonstrates the values of excellence that are so important to the House,” the brand noted.
Also making history with its first foray into sport, Chanel is the new titular sponsor and timekeeper of the Oxford Cambridge boat race – England’s oldest major sporting event. While Coco Chanel’s love of nautical sports is no secret, this was a somewhat unexpected move by the Maison. Frédéric Grangié, president of Chanel Watches and Fine Jewellery, says he sees rowers performing in sync as a perfect parallel of what it takes to make some of the world’s greatest watches. “It is the collective pursuit of excellence and the engine itself,” he told the London Times last month.
Across the pond, Canadian activewear brand Lululemon signed fashion-loving F1 driver Lewis Hamilton as a global ambassador earlier this year to “broaden its appeal”. A good call, as Lewis admitted in a recent British GQ interview that he didn’t know the brand catered for men. The seven-time world champion will also co-chair the 2025 Met Gala later this month alongside Vogue editor Anna Wintour, actor Colman Domingo, rapper A$AP Rocky, and Pharrell Williams.
Locally, South African designer Thebe Magugu also ventured into sportswear when he created the home and away jerseys for Orlando Pirates’ 2023/24 season. This year, Thebe dropped his new FC Training kit in candy pink on Valentine’s Day modelled by celebrity music couple Zakes Bantwini and Nandi Madida (the surname on the FC pink jersey can be personalised).
Tunnel Vision
Fans eagerly await to see what F1 drivers will be wearing in the paddocks on race days, while WNBA tunnels have become spaces where players can strut their style while giving designer brands global visibility in an instant. On the grand slam tennis circuit, spectator and player style can get almost as much media attention as the matches themselves. At the 2023 US Open, Venus Williams walked the tennis tunnel wearing a Willy Chavarria blazer, Alaïa skirt, Prada heels with Bvlgari diamonds and an IWC watch. Her Instagram post simply read: “My passions collide, tennis + fashion.” Carlos Alcaraz is a house ambassador for Louis Vuitton formal wear, and last year, Jannik Sinner made headlines as the first tennis player to walk onto Centre Court at Wimbledon carrying a monogrammed Gucci duffel bag.
Carlos Sainz x Hackett of London
The Spanish F1 racing driver is no longer with Scuderia Ferrari, but the smooth operator has had a busy start to the year. Not only is he the newest L’Oréal Paris ambassador for Elvive Hair Care, but he and his father, also Carlos Sainz – a motor-racing legend himself, teamed up as the new faces of Hackett London’s SS 25 campaign.
What started in the early ’80s as a store selling second-hand clothes on Portobello Road, Hackett became internationally renowned for its timeless menswear collections that are functional and versatile, “much like a well-engineered race car,” Carlos Snr said in a recent interview. Hackett likens the bond between father and son to the “richness of heritage and the evolution of contemporary style between generations.”
Roger Federer x On
He earned $130 million in prize money by winning 103 titles during his illustrious 24-year career, but tennis legend Roger Federer’s wealth is worth around $550 million. This is mostly due to his endorsements and collaborations with Uniqlo, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, Moët and Credit Suisse, as well as his three-percent share in Swiss athletic apparel company On, which was estimated to be worth $200 million in 2023. What started as a dinner conversation with the On founders and Roger wanting to help a Swiss brand create something “cool, different, and meaningful”, led to him co-creating The Roger Collection for wear on and off the court, guided by the brand’s mission to “ignite the human spirit through movement.” The company went public in 2021 and has since been named one of the world’s most innovative companies, famed for its CloudTec technology evolved from garden hose prototypes, which were marketed as “running on clouds”.
Eileen Gu X Prada
Chinese American freestyle skier Eileen Gu made sporting headlines in 2022 when she competed – and won multiple gold medals – for China instead of the USA at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Born in California, Eileen’s multicultural background and model looks made her an ideal choice of ambassador for Prada’s sportswear line Prada Linea Rossa, demonstrating the shift in focus from celebrities to athletes and expanding Prada’s brand awareness, specifically in China, where it also sponsors the women’s national soccer team.
Eileen’s ability to merge fashion, sport, and academics (she studies quantum physics at Stanford University and was a Vogue Hong Kong cover girl in December 2024), encourages people, she says, “to break their boundaries, to be unafraid of failure, and to redefine beauty in the context of femininity and power.” In addition to Prada, Eileen is a global ambassador for Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co, and IWC Schaffhausen.
Angel Reese x Reebok
Inspired by the 22-year-old WNBA basketball champion’s style on and off the court, Angel Reese signed a multiyear deal including “Reebok by Angel”, an athleisure collection she says aims to empower girls and women to blend style and sport by embracing their femininity, and a signature sneaker due for release in 2026.
With 4.8 million Instagram followers and another 5.5 million on TikTok, it’s little surprise, according to Forbes magazine, that black women are leading the WNBA’s growth as an entertainment brand.
Siya Kolisi x Freedom of Movement
In 2018, South African lifestyle brand Freedom of Movement (FOM) launched a partnership with Springbok rugby captain Siya Kolisi. The collab has a deeper sense of purpose in that proceeds of sales from the FOM x Kolisi collection are used for social upliftment in Zwide, Siya’s hometown in the Eastern Cape. The collection, which includes vellies, classic tees, chinos, a sleek backpack, and shearling denim jacket, has contributed to the Siyaphakama Zwide Schools Project, an initiative that implements tailor-made programmes in schools to address physical education, malnutrition, academics, life skills, and youth employment.
Fast facts
- Roger Federer’s 2006 $15 million partnership with Rolex was the largest endorsement deal made for an athlete at the time. In 2016, he was signed for a further $8 million annually.
- The polo shirt – with its collar and button placket – was the first tennis shirt produced and worn by René Lacoste in 1933. Through the brand and Ralph Lauren’s marketing of the “polo” shirt in the ’70s, it became synonymous with preppy style, worn anywhere from the polo field to golf clubs and fraternity houses.
- Golf’s demographics – through younger players, like Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and 2025 Masters Champion Rory Mcilroy – have turned fairways into runways. Louis Vuitton’s capsule collaboration by Tyler, The Creator in spring 2024 may have started the most recent golf fashion revolution, but BAPE and Adidas Golf are in on the trend, as is Nike, who created Travis Scott Air Jordan 1 Low Trainers for golfers
- Johannesburg-born Olympic athlete Akani Simbine is the first sprinter to join the Richard Mille family. He recently ran the fastest 100m in the world for 2025 in just 9,9 seconds at the Athletics Continental Tour Gold event in Gaberone.
