Wimbledon brings to mind competitors grunting in perfectly pressed tennis skirts and polo shirts, impeccably dressed umpires defying the summer heat in ties and blazers, and inconspicuous ball boys and girls in neat, dark blue uniforms. But what about the spectators?
On Friday, I wandered around the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club where the tournament is held, and noticed that spectators had an unofficial dress code of their own.
Men selling hats told me tourists can’t get enough of them
The owners of Wimbledon Hats, Donald and Julian, sell straw hats from the front yard of a house near the tennis club.
Donald told me they’d sold them to “a hell of a lot of tourists,” particularly Americans and visitors from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Europe.
“It’s definitely associated with old England,” he said, adding that many visitors see the hats as part of the Wimbledon experience and something of a status symbol.
The queue outside gave a strong indication that traditional hats are indeed in at Wimbledon
While women tended to go for floppier styles, men’s hats were more structured.
Sure enough, I saw plenty of hats on the grounds
Panama hats and straw fedoras were everywhere at Wimbledon.
Year after year, rain or shine, they’re a familiar sight around the grounds.
Many gentlemen opted for white linen trousers
It has been an unseasonably warm summer in the UK, so lightweight linen and pale colors were hardly unexpected. One trend stood out in particular, though: white trousers.
Jack Willis, whom I met outside the grounds, paired his white linen trousers with a matching shirt.
Some mixed casual elements with their slacks
Willis paired his white outfit with a pair of contrasting slip-ons, while Dwayne White added some flare with a fitted cotton short-sleeved shirt, angular sunglasses, and a textured cross-body bag.
White pants with a button-down shirt is a classic Wimbledon look
Across the grounds, men looking for a smarter Wimbledon look paired tailored white trousers with button-down shirts, like Jez Verweij.
Those who didn’t want the heat getting in the way of a good outfit added a blazer, with Ralph Lauren, one of Wimbledon’s official partners, proving especially popular.
Many spectators embraced strawberry-themed outfits, but none more than this one
Few things are more synonymous with Wimbledon than strawberries and cream, perhaps other than the tennis itself.
Throughout the day, I spotted shirts and silk dresses adorned with strawberries, as well as more subtle, perhaps unintentional, nods to the red-and-white color palette.
But no one embraced the theme quite like Jade Musgrave. She designed her own dress and headpiece, complete with knitted strawberries, and paired them with a matching strawberry-shaped bag.
It doesn’t get much more Wimbledon than that.
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