Game, Set, Style: Challengers is a Story Told by Style
Written By Lana Spota
May 21, 2024
Still taken from Challengers (2024)
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Loose-fit jeans. Pastel polos. Striped button-downs. Navy quarter zips. Luca Guadagnino, known for his popular works such as Call Me By Your Name (2017), Bones and All (2022), and Suspiria (2018), has released his most recent film Challengers (2024), showing in theaters right now. Its sultry, preppy and evocative nature is attracting audiences from all corners to gaze at Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O'Connor's sweltering on-camera chemistry, and exceptional performances on and off the court.
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
Jonathan Anderson & Luca Guadagnino on the set of 'Challengers'
Behind director Guadagnino, or writer Justin Kuritzkes, or even Zendaya and her co-stars Faist and O'Connor, is the driving force that simply makes this film just work. Jonathan Anderson, the film's costume designer, takes the leap into his first time outfitting a film, and is receiving mass amounts of love from the public eye for his attention to detail in the film's normal, preppy, quiet-luxury clothing choices. The creative director of Loewe has just begun to dip his toes into the industry of costume design, but is currently working with Guadagnino on his next film, Queer, based on the novel by William S. Burroughs which shares the same name, starring Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey.
To Anderson, the film's costume design is molded around the ordinariness of our every day lives; ranging from the tiniest details of Tashi Duncan's gold jewelry, to the blatant yet casual "I Told Ya" shirt that both Zendaya and O'Connor share throughout the film. The straightforwardness has enough momentum to pioneer this summer's look-book, for me at least.
We first meet our characters at Phil's Tire Town Challenger, New Rochelle. Art Donaldson, played by Mike Faist, and Patrick Zweig, played by Josh O'Connor, are playing face to face to win the event. It's here when we're given our first look at who exactly we're dealing with: Art, dressed in an all white Uniqlo polo shirt, projecting his obedient nature and duty to follow the rules (after all, it is possible to be fined at Wimbledon for not wearing white).
Across the court is Patrick, painted as the 'dark horse' in all black and gingham, boxer-like mismatched shorts, meant to represent his boyish maturity, and stark contrast to Art's diligence. Patrick, above everything else, is a non-conformist, and we learn this later in the film; Art's cleanly put together appearance in comparison to Patrick's 'thrown together', 'caught off-guard' look belies a deeper meaning to the two's relationship.
Let's talk about Tashi and her wardrobe for a second. In the first scene, we catch her in the end of her tennis career. She's moved off the court and to the sidelines, as her husband's, Art Donaldson, wife and tennis coach. She opts for a quiet-luxury, model-off-duty-esque look in her tailored pants and stilettos, truly fitting the conventional tennis-watching attire. Tashi's put-together-ness can be seen as a direct translation of her morals, as she is a woman who is determined to achieve a picture-perfect image of herself. When we get a flashback of her thirteen years before, we see that she was simply a teenage girl, wearing preppy tennis skirts, pink juicy couture zip-ups, and blue strapless jacquard dress with black tulle details. Even Art, shown as a young tennis prodigy at Stanford, dresses in backwards hats and striped button downs. Such a drastic change can only make the audience ask themselves, 'what happened?" Was the shift just maturity, or something that lies outside of what we are being shown?
Sketch by Jonathan Anderson, courtesy of WWD
If you've been following the Challengers cast and the outfits they wear to the film's premieres, or simply just out in the public (Zendaya strutting around the streets of New York in the plain, fashionable shirt), you'll recognize this infamous "I Told Ya" design within seconds. The shirt serves as a motif both in the film and outside the film, as it is constantly passed around from Tashi to Patrick, but never to Art. We first see the shirt worn by Tashi, when the film cuts to she and Art in college, talking about Patrick and Tashi's on-the-rocks relationship. Tashi gets the idea that Art is trying to tell her something about Patrick, but he refuses to, and instead says that Patrick is not in love with her. Tashi walks away from Art, almost disgusted that he would even have the idea that she loved Patrick back. We see the shirt in full detail when Tashi stands above and in front of Art, in a superior position to him. Before then, we only saw her shirt from the side, in a medium shot that both Art and Tashi share from both sides. It is only until Tashi is fully shown and Art is not, that we see "I Told Ya".
Our next clear look at the shirt is after Tashi and Patrick's first fight in Tashi's college dorm room. The two are conflicted in their relationship as Tashi seems to only prioritize Patrick when his life is revolved around tennis. She fails to see Patrick as her boyfriend, and instead, in Patrick's words, "A member of her fan club." Patrick storms off with the t-shirt as Tashi prepares for her next match, and tells Art that he will not be at her match because of the fight. Moments later, when Tashi gets injured, Patrick shows up begging to reason with Tashi, in which both Tashi and Art yell at Patrick to leave. Patrick stands there, dumbfounded and alone, wearing the "I Told Ya" shirt.
We've now seen the shirt in two of arguably the most important scenes in the film: both involving Tashi and Patrick, and both during fights the shape the film detrimentally. The "I Told Ya" slogan can be seen as a sign of bad luck; Art and Tashi arguing about Patrick which would later lead to their breakup, and Tashi getting injured and not being able to play professionally again. Paired with each characters expression (Tashi's bothered and annoyed face, and Patrick's 'oh-I-really-messed-up' look) the slogan no longer comes off as witty or funny, but more as a 'got-you-there', or in terms of the game, 'scoring points.'
JFK Jr. and his wife, Carolyn, circa 1990s
The shirt takes inspiration from an identical piece worn by John F. Kennedy Jr. in the 1990s, who was known for his laid back and effortless style, something that Anderson was trying to evoke in the film's costume design. At the time, the paparazzi had taken multiple photos of him, whether he was playing with his dog or out with his wife, Carolyn Bessette.
In fact, Kennedy's style played a crucial role for Anderson when navigating Patrick Zweig's outfits. In an interview with WWD, Anderson states, "When JFK Jr. was younger, in the '80s and '90s, there was kind of an effortlessness to his wardrobe - like he could wear anything and sex appeal would always be there." Anderson took note of this, as one of Patrick's main characteristics is being carefree, but ultimately being desired. JFK Jr.'s breezy style matched with Patrick's perfectly - he doesn't care about the materialistic parts of the game. As long as he can play, he's not worried about being the center of attention, or looking picture-perfect, opposed to Tashi or even, in this case, Art, who plays against him in great fashion.
If you're looking to purchase this shirt, because I know I am, there are four designs available on Loewe.com. The classic t-shirt, which goes for $330 in gray and white, and a crew neck sweatshirt in the same colors, for $690. Of course, this shirt can easily be found on Amazon or Etsy, but in bougie, Challengers fashion, I can guarantee that many people will be buying the pieces off of Loewe. At least I know who I'm dressing up as for Halloween.
Let's talk accessories. One of my favorite things that Tashi wears throughout the film is her simple, dainty gold necklaces. Paired with Tashi's neutral knits, or monochrome stilettos, the small details like jewelry completely bring the outfit together to successfully achieve the 'tennis-player-off-duty' look. In earlier scenes meant to take place when Tashi was a teenager, we see her decorated with a traditional gold crucifix, perhaps meant to signify her youth or innocence as a younger girl.
In the later years, or scenes that take place after Tashi has married Art, we see that not only has Tashi changed her entire wardrobe, stripping the bright colors and patterns, or tennis skirts and dresses from her closet in exchange for long coats and cashmere sweaters, but has added another necklace to layer her gold cross. Two connected circles: one gold-plated and the other rimmed with clear crystals, another motif that could be representing the two boys in her life.
There is clearly a divide in every relationship in the film, but if we placed the two boys away from Tashi (or even joined together, like the circles in her necklace), we would have Tashi alone and the boys together. In respect to her necklaces, Tashi would take the place as the crucifix, the boys as the circles; separate but together in a metaphorical way. As Tashi is already someone that both the boys worship in some kind of way, a new theme is added into the mix, of course next to 'throuples', tennis and sweat: religion.
The common motif of religion has been evident in tennis since the game was created in northern France in the 12th century. The idea of three people existing on a tennis court does not work, and it simply never has, as both sides of the court need to be even. Now, there can definitely be two people on one side, but once you add a third, you are no longer playing tennis. Tashi mentions this idea a few times throughout the film, saying herself that "Tennis is a relationship." And whether you take that romantically or platonically, she does have a point. Adding another person to a doubles match causes chaos, and that is perhaps a direct visualization of what is happening in all three character's lives. Whether it be Art and Patrick's relationship, with the addition of Tashi, Art and Tashi's relationship, with the addition of Patrick, or Tashi and Patrick's relationship, with the addition of Art, all three have a rough time co-existing together: it has never succeeded. The only time it has 'succeeded' was during the film's catalyst, when Art and Patrick met Tashi for the first time, which essentially was the snowball effect that led to each character's downfall.
When Art confronts Tashi about retiring from playing tennis, almost asking her for her validation, Tashi responds with, "What am I, Jesus?". Art responds with a yes, exclaiming as loudly as possible that Tashi is his God, and he worships her, only using one word. She is not just his wife, but someone he sees as holy.
I can confidently say that this is not the last we see of Anderson, as his overall influence on this film should and has not gone unnoticed. When it comes to filmmaking, we often under-appreciate or under-represent the smaller facets that go into creating a film, especially including design. After seeing Challengers for the first time, many of the things that stuck with me the most were the fashion choices. It's truly refreshing to see designers gather more publicity for the work they put into each of their projects, because most of the time, it is the secret ingredient that the film may be missing.
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