What's cooler – tennis or golf? Tennis has the fashion-crazed Williams sisters – Serena once played the U.S.
open in $40,000 diamond hoop earrings – and the ultrachic Anna Wintour, who rises at the crack of dawn to whack balls before heading to her office at Golf hasn't had much going for it in the women's style arena. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cameron Diaz, Jessica Alba and Heather Locklear are said to be hitting the greens. Style-concious players like Michelle Wie, who played in Sunday's LPGA championship wearing a hot pink minidress, are bringing some snap to the sport.
And frustrated golf divas are launching their own collections. Lynda Hipp is the designer of Lija (pronounced lee-zha), a snazzy golf line that features sophisticated colours and graphic prints. Ten years ago when we started, women's golfwear looked like miniature menswear – boxy polos and pleated shorts, Hipp says from her Vancouver headquarters.
But women are not shaped like boxes. So she cuts slimming cashmere-blend hoodies, tapered rosebud print polos, and long flat-front shorts in psychedelic graphic patterns. I really follow the fashion trends, Hipp says.
I look at interior design, I shop L.A. and New York.
I look at the runways. And I roam the streets of Paris; that's where I get a lot of inspiration. Of course you won't be seeing Balenciaga-style metal leggings and other out-there items on the links.
Golf is still relatively conservative. It's an old game with ideas of how you have to present yourself. So we don't step too far outside of the box.
Dress codes – such as collared shirts and shorts no higher than 5 inches above the knee – are adhered to. Still younger players don't want to look like their grandfolks. We're cool but we're golf-course friendly, says Geoff Tait, an ex-golf pro and co-founder of Quagmire Golf.
When Tait and partner Bobby Pasternak launched Quagmire last year, they were aiming at 20-something men and women like themselves. We saw kids playing golf in Abercrombie and Fitch and Quicksilver ..
. so we decided to bring that surfer, skater look to golf. The label has turned out to have broad age appeal and is already carried at 100 stores.
Our heads are spinning. Spring looks include plaid and seersucker flat-front shorts and crinkled skirts, like you could wear to the beach, Tait says. Nobody else has done anything like that for golf.
She launched Birdie Girl Golf (birdiegirl.ca), a collection of golf bags and accessories for women, after falling in love with a golf nut. I want to bring some edginess to golf, says Brdar, who is also a hairstylist at the Rapunzel salon on Irwin Ave.
Players are younger and more fashion conscious. They are into clothing and hair. Current styles include a sexy black patent duffle with pink trim and a camouflage print golf bag with hot pink graffiti.
It's more surf and wakeboard inspired than a traditional golf look. Birdie Girl is carried at Golf Town and branching into the U.S.
, Japan and Europe. I founded this company with a single, stubborn mission: To create a line where women were the focus, not the second thought, says Brdar. Women need golf accessories that make them feel as fabulous as the latest designer handbag or sexy stiletto heels.
Across Canada in a Smart car A hot cup of fair trade What's cooler – tennis or golf?
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