US Open FIT x IHG Tennis Ball Dress Competition 2024

In early August, dresses by five Fashion Design students were on display in the lobby of The Museum at FIT—finalists in a contest sponsored by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), sponsor of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. Students were tasked with creating wearable dresses that incorporated tennis balls and/or tennis-ball material and that embodied the IHG and U.S. Open brands.
Titled Ball in Play, this dress was constructed from tennis balls, upcycled gloves, and over 50 handcrafted fabric roses. The garment represents what tennis means to me. The hands blooming from the flowers on the dress represent the unique and creative motions of tennis, as well as the history of passing the ball to the next generation. This dress took over 200 hours to build, from wiring the cage under structure to hand stitching the final touches.