Adidas by Stella McCartney
The hero piece for this year's adidas by Stella McCartney Barricade collection is the tennis dress, found in a feminine color palette of glacial and fresh yellow. Characterized by its floral graphics and athletic design, the collection's ClimaCool technology promises to keep players cool as temperatures begin to rise.
adidas
Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki warms up in her adidas by Stella McCartney Barricade kit, which she will wear at this year's French Open. The collection debuts outstanding performance apparel and footwear for the second Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Nike
Inspired by an emerging desire for luxury in sport performance gear, Brazilian designer Pedro Lourenco's collection presents a modern interpretation of athletic apparel for women. Throughout the collection, Lourenco employs materials that perform, yet are soft and feminine. Referencing '60s era couture tailoring techniques, the jacket features modern Dri-FIT mesh technology, pulling sweat away from the skin.
Courtesy Monreal
Luxury sportswear brand Monreal London fuses fashion and function, putting an unconventional spin on traditional tennis kit.

An avid player herself, founder Stephanie Gosse noticed a need for innovative yet attractive high-performance garments. Her first capsule collection of fashionable tennis dresses for summer 2013 was a sellout success at Harrods.
Peter Michael Dills/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
Alexander Wang reinterprets Adidas' cult classic Stan Smith tennis sneaker, transforming its signature texture and white-and-green colorways into perforated tennis dresses for Spring-Summer 2015.
PIERRE VERDY/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
In 2009 Jean Paul Gaultier was designing for French fashion house Hermès. He put a tennis spin on the brand's classic silhouettes for this collection, reminiscent of the elegant style of 1920s and 30s female players.
Courtesy Lacoste
Gearing up for the Rio Olympics, Lacoste's creative director Felipe Oliveira Baptista presented a catwalk collection of graphic sportswear draped in billowing flags for Spring-Summer 2016.
Scott Wintrow/Getty Images North America/Getty Images for IMG
Known for his highly produced catwalk shows, American designer Thom Browne took on tennis (and tutus) for his Spring-Summer 2009 menswear collection.
© Bertrand Le Pluard
French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus referenced a playful childhood spent in the seaside town of La Grande Motte in the south of Franc, with his tennis socks and sneakers teamed with easy sportswear separates and patterns alluding to the town's outlandish Jean Balladur architecture.
Courtesy Lacoste
This year, Lacoste collaborated with Roland-Garros on this capsule collection. The Roland-Garros stadium was built in honor of the brand's founder, the champion tennis pro Rene Lacoste, who won the tournament five times for singles and doubles.
Camille Charriere
Parisian stylist and blogger Camille Charriere has been credited with re-launching the tennis sneaker trend along with Celine creative director Phoebe Philo and Kanye West. Now she's bringing Lacoste back to the street style crowd too. "I'm always very keen to reference sportswear as part of my daywear, because it's comfortable obviously... and looks great. I've started wearing polo shirts again."
Ralph Lauren
The classic American sportswear brand Polo Ralph Lauren's have been the official outfitters at Wimbledon since 2006. Umpires, ballgirls, linesmen: everyone will be in Ralph come July in London.

Editor’s Note: This photo essay is part of a series of features, set against the backdrop of the 2016 French Open, celebrating French style today. See more here.

CNN  — 

What do Anna Wintour, a jet-setting Slim Aarons subject and a quirky Wes Anderson character have in common? Really stylish tennis outfits of course. The tennis look, with its classic iconography and crisp miniskirts has long been a hit among the glamorous and eccentric.

With the international rise of the “athleisure” trend – meaning luxury sportswear you want to wear all day— tennis has become a reoccurring reference of choice on the Paris catwalks of late.

01:43 - Source: CNN
Conservative to cool: How tennis style found its form

“Wearing sportswear on the street hasn’t always come as naturally to the French as it does to North and South Americans, so the trend is only really catching on now” says Iza Dezon, a trend forecaster at Peclers Paris.

“We’re seeing a general progression towards healthy lifestyle in Europe. A new generation are catching up and embracing the idea that beauty is not just exterior. The athleisure movement comes from a greater desire to show that you’re taking care of yourself on the inside too, balancing your lifestyle, diet, and fitness options; embracing the idea that a woman is most beautiful when she is comfortable.”

Along with Kanye West and Celine’s Phoebe Philo, Parisian fashion blogger and journalist Camille Charriere has been credited with bringing back Adidas’ classic Stan Smith tennis trainers. “I’ve always been keen to reference sportswear as part of my daywear, especially tennis,” says the much-photographed Charriere.

“Stan Smiths are everywhere now, so I’m moving on to other favorite references, like tennis dresses and polo shirts. French designers like Jacquemus and Lacoste do these best,” she adds.

Camille Charriere
Parisian stylist and superblogger Camille Charriere has been credited with re-launching the tennis sneaker trend along with Celine creative director Phoebe Philo and Kanye West. Now she's bringing Lacoste back to the street style crowd too. "I'm always very keen to reference sportswear as part of my daywear, because it's comfortable obviously... and looks great. I've started wearing polo shirts again."

All eyes will be on fashion’s favorite sport as the French Open kicks off this week. There’s unusual room for creativity at Roland-Garros, where players can wear colorful outfits not always permitted on court. At Wimbledon, players may wear no more than a single trim of color around the neckline.

The tone for the season has been set by Parisian designers playing on the courtside look. For Spring-Summer 2016, Hermes showed drop-waisted silk dresses and short jumpsuits, reinterpreting the outfits of 1920s female players with the house’s typical French restraint.

And from the old guard to the new generation, Paris’s young design star Simon Porte Jacquemus, who draws inspiration from childhood summers in the South of France, is known for his playfully deconstructed tennis dresses worn with white socks and sneakers.

© Bertrand Le Pluard

Meanwhile century-old French sportswear label Lacoste served up strong references to the brand’s heritage for its SS16 catwalk collection. Creative Director Felipe Oliveira Baptista sent graphic, functional, modular looks topped with colorful visors festooned with ribbons, a nod to the upcoming of the Rio Olympics for which Lacoste will dress the French team.

Lacoste has also been a historic partner of Roland-Garros for over 40 years, bringing out a yearly textile line for the tournament. This season’s co-branded capsule collection pays tribute to the brand’s founder Rene Lacoste, the five time singles and doubles winner at Roland-Garros for whom the current stadium was built. The collection also celebrates the timeless elegance of 1920s tennis champions.

But if that’s not enough motivation, the options for more functional tennis fashion have multiplied lately. Stella McCartney and Adidas are among several collaborative efforts to make stylish sportswear you can actually play a match in. Danish tennis star Caroline Wozniacki will wear the Adidas x Stella Barricade collection at Roland-Garros this year. Characterized by its floral patterns and athletic design, the collection uses Climacool technology to keep players’ temperature levels at bay.

Brazilian designer Pedro Lourenco has put a new spin on Nike tennis options too. His athletic designs take inspiration from ’60s era haute couture while employing modern Dri-Fit mesh technology to pull sweat away from the skin. Polo Ralph Lauren, the trailblazer of fashionably preppy American sportswear, continues to create the Wimbledon collection, with every ballgirl, linesman and umpire sporting the line come July in London.

With so many leading designers back in the game, the fashion world is sure to be keeping score this week.