The designer is also a fan of tennis herself as well as an avid surfer and she talked about how she often tests her own designs. She said that she feels all sports are influencing what's happening in fashion right now. Of course you can't talk about fashion and tennis without mentioning Serena Williams. The panelists agreed that Serena has pushed the envelope with catsuits, and Rowley added that she loved the catsuits because they were right up her alley. Rowley added that it's not just tennis where you can wear what you want and express yourself more For Rowley fashion is another way for people to express themselves even in sports and that is what has inspired her when designing this latest collection.
Alexandra Stevenson talked about getting into fashion as an athlete recalling that when she was a junior she fell in love with a Cynthia Rowley design that Julia Roberts wore and has loved fashion ever since. Stevenson has also noticed several new trends in the tennis world when it comes to fashion including the return of crop tops, shot skirts, ice skating style dresses, and more defined silhouettes.
She said, "for me tennis style has always been fun and girly"
Rowley spoke about the trends she's noticed as a designer saying, "I think fashion and function are an important part of design but if I think in fitness overall I think we will see more colors."
As one of the pioneers of Surf leisure clothing and athleisure clothing she certainly has the experience to pick out the upcoming trends. She went on to describe her process for designing athletic wear saying that often sports brands think they want an athlete to design and that for her its way easier to learn about the functionality that is needed for a certain design than to teach someone who's an expert in the sport the basic principles of good design. For Rowley it starts with good design and she works to incorporate functionality by researching what is needed for each project. She said there are certain fabrics that should stay in sportswear and not cross over but she has definitely had to learn through experimenting which ones those are. She recalled trying to create some dresses out of neoprene once saying, "I thought they would look snatched but it's a functional fabric so I had sweat dripping down my back and it was an important lesson to understand why things are used in certain ways."
Alexandra described wearing some of Rowley's designs saying, "It feels like I'm in athletic clothes but they look like gorgeous Cynthia Rowley clothes!" Other customers love wearing her pieces as well because the designer is so diligent about testing them out and even tries them on herself!
Rowley said of her hopes for future projects, "I love sports and a good challenge. I would like to dress a guy. I think you shouldn't have to give up who you are because of your profession."
She described how she felt about her latest capsule collection which was available at the pop up shop at Glam Slam saying, "We did just launch an all sport collection which ahs tennis dresses and shorts. It's a capsule collection that's meant to be cute for playing golf or just going to the grocery store. I think people are looking for things to do outside more and more and they want to look cute." She also talked with me more about the collection saying, "It’s just a little capsule, and it is all sport. So it’s meant to be worn for tennis, golf, pickle ball, kind of whatever you want, and then you look super cute on the street too. It’s just really for everything. Yoga, you know, all sports"
When asked if she had been watching the US Open Rowley said, "The energy the past 4 days was out of this world."
Finally Rowley spoke about her upcoming fashion week show on Tuesday which will feature her SS23 ready to wear collection. She said, "I'm a little stressed right now."
I spoke to the designer about her upcoming show and what it feels like to be back to in person shows after doing virtual events for so long. She said, "(NYFW) is fully back, I know. I mean, I always love a fashion show and always hate a fashion show. It’s so stressful, like I have couriers flying on an airplane to bring samples to us tomorrow, and like, it’s always, no matter how far ahead you plan, no matter what you do, you know, things happen and it’s like, you’ve got to deal with it and hope for the best. I mean right now I’m dealing with, you know, a lot of just organizing a lot of stuff, but also dealing with mother nature. So let’s all just cross our fingers, say a little something, whatever you say for good weather. Yeah, it’s looking a little intense, but I think it’ll be okay."
