You have Chris Evert to thank for that. Before Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, and Martina Navratilova was tennis superstar Chris Evert. She sprang to prominence in the 1970s at the age of 15 setting and breaking records. Within a few years she was the superstar at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Evert was known for combining sport and fashion. You’d often see her in a halter tennis dress and pairing her striped sweatbands with diamond bracelets. She was as influential in the sport as she was in her style. She told the New York Times she said she always wanted to wear “something that gave me confidence and empowered me both as a woman and an athlete.” One of the signature items she wore was a diamond line bracelet.
In 1978, as she was competing to hold her three-year streak in the U.S. Open, game play suddenly stopped. Her bracelet had slipped off and she was wandering the court searching for it. From that moment on, a single line bracelet was known as a “tennis bracelet.”
The style was originally called an “eternity bracelet,” and gained popularity during the art deco art movement in the 1920s. The movement and the bracelet faded from view as The Depression and World War II caused people to cut back on fashion and luxury purchases.
A diamond bracelet of any kind was once viewed as a something only to be worn with formal wear on fancy occasions. When Chris Evert stepped onto a tennis court with an eternity bracelet, suddenly a new style was born. Nobody had considered wearing a bracelet with casual clothes, but that’s exactly what happened.
Over 40 years later, tennis bracelets have become a classic look. The style has evolved from a bracelet of larger diamonds to more petite and varied stone shapes and sizes. It can be worn for any occasion and matches most outfits.
It can be worn at work, an evening cocktail party, weekends with jeans and a t-shirt, and (of course) on the tennis court. It’s a simple but elegant look that compliments your watch, other bracelets, or stacked in layers.
What began the 20th century as an “eternity bracelet” became a “tennis bracelet” when it fell from the wrist of a tennis superstar. It’s an accessory that always works (and it’s a gift you can’t get wrong)!
We can show you a whole variety of tennis bracelets in a range of prices that will look spectacular in any occasion.