After investing in start-up companies for five
years through Serena Ventures, the tennis cham-
pion decided she’d invest in her passion for fash-
ion, design and empowering women by launching
an independent ready-to-wear line, S by Serena.
She explains that her clothes “represent women
everywhere—indomitable mothers, daughters
and sisters; resilient businesswomen and entre-
preneurs; outsiders and underdogs; little girls with
crazy dreams and unflinching women of color.”
On September 10, Williams’s New York Fashion
Week presentation will culminate in a 24-hour
shopping party. In the midst of planning her
show, the wife and mom spoke with ESSENCE to
talk about how she defines style, what she looks
for in a good investment and why she’ll always
speak up for herself and others.
ESSENCE: Let’s jump right into fashion. I’m
curious about the pieces you were connecting
with at the photo shoot—for example, the
Monique Lhuiller cape. What’s the first thing
you look for in a piece you’ll wear or that you’ll
design for your S by Serena collection?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Wow. I love fashion, obvi-
ously. It has to connect to me, first of all. I like
things that are unusual, but also a little classic. It
depends: It could be a crazy pop of color, and it’ll
totally get me excited. Or it could be something
fresh I haven’t seen before. Honestly, I can go in
any direction. Just depends on how I feel.
My biggest joy is that
I know that I’m doing
something that
I’ve always wanted to
do, that I always
dreamed of doing.”
ESSENCE: You’re deep into planning your New
York Fashion Week moment. What can we
expect from your show?
WILLIAMS: Everything that’s on the runway will be
ready for sale for 24 hours on September 10. As far
as the clothing, we really wanted to have fun and
be confident. It’s kind of like all the aspects of my
life. But not just my life, most women’s lives. We
have a job, or we have somewhere to go for an
event, or we have something more serious that we
wanted to dress down for, or we might want to go
out with our friends and relax, or we may just be
walking around the house as a mom. So when we
were designing the collection, we wanted to speak
to every aspect of that woman.ESSENCE: Do you find your fashion has
changed since you became a mom? I’ll be hon-
est. After I had my daughter I had to tell myself
to stop wearing yoga pants.
WILLIAMS: The thing is, during my pregnancy, I
always made sure I was dressed up, or I wore
heels and it would kill me. But I would just
wear the heels and then I would take them off
at the restaurant or wherever we would go.
Then I’d put them back on. I had to be fabu-
lous. There’s even a picture of the day before I
had the baby. We went out to eat and I had on
my blue outfit and I was like, I’m going to try to
be stylish this whole pregnancy. I tried, but after-
ward, it was a little bit of a letdown, definitely
more so than during. We deserve a letdown, but
we also deserve an upgrade. »ESSENCE.COM I 113 I SEPTEMBER 2019