‘Challengers’ Is Our Next Great Style Film
By Briana J.
Fans of Luca Guadagnino are no strangers to the Italian director’s creative eye when it comes to
the often elevated lifestyles of his characters. From A Bigger Splash and Call Me By Your Name,
he does aspiration well. In Challengers, the tennis drama that serves up a ménage à trois that
spans decades, Guadagnino enlists the help of fashion designer Jonathan Anderson. Anderson
comes with his own legion of devoted fans, thanks to his work as creative director of LOEWE
and his own fashion label JW Anderson. With Zendaya, who is arguably the most well-dressed
celebrity in Hollywood starring in and producing this, Challengers is on track to be a fashion
film for the ages.
The combination of the two powerhouse creatives should come as no surprise. Guadagnino has
directed many stylish celebrities such as Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell, Tilda Swinton,
Dakota Johnson, Mia Goth, Julianne Moore, and Ralph Fiennes and further pushed them in the
fashion conversation thanks to his creative eye. He’s also already been involved with the fashion
world by making short films for luxury houses like Dior, Fendi, Jil Sander, and Zegna. Jonathan
Anderson on the other hand has designed for celebrities like Rihanna, Harry Styles, Cate
Blanchett, Dame Maggie Smith, and Aubrey Plaza. Costume designer is a new role for him but
after seeing Challengers this past weekend, it’s safe to say that he successfully rose to the
occasion.
Challengers focuses on three parts of a love triangle with tennis at its center. A big factor in
tennis is that it’s not just a sport, it’s a lifestyle that influences what people wear.
Chronologically, the story starts in the late-2000s and continues through 2019, a thirteen-year
time span and such a diverse decade in fashion. Tashi Duncan, played by Zendaya is a promising
young tennis star at the start and a business mogul, coach, and mother by the end. For Anderson,
the task was how to show Tashi’s maturity through fashion. The blue party dress she wears is a
nod to Anderson’s 2020 Loewe collection. Young Tashi’s looks are colorful, sporty, and relaxed
to reflect Tashi’s hopeful personality at the time. Art Donaldson, played by Mike Faist is the
least talented tennis player of the bunch but has drive and ambition that leads him to becoming
Tashi’s husband and one of the highest ranked tennis players by 2019. Patrick Zweig, played by
Josh O’Connor is the opposite of Art in that he’s naturally gifted, braggadocious, and comes
from wealth. By 2019, Patrick seems to have never grown up from being Tashi’s ex-boyfriend.
In the late 2000s, Patrick and Art’s style is typical of boys at the time with oxford shirts, polos,
and the “athletic prep” aesthetic.
The art of utilizing “normal clothes” is what sets Challengers apart in the fashion department.
Both Guadagnino and Anderson know when to make clothing a focal point in the story. By 2019,
the characters are settled into their style. The most recognizable piece of clothing to come out of
the film is the gray “I Told Ya” shirt that both Tashi and Patrick wear at different points in the
film. On Tashi, it appears as something casual to throw on while Patrick makes it a staple. In
fact, Jonathan Anderson mentioned that he was inspired by John F. Kennedy Jr. 's off-duty
paparazzi photos in conceptualizing Patrick’s look. As Tashi becomes more settled in her role as
a woman, her style reflects her reality with Cartier jewelry, Chanel espadrilles, leather handbags,
and LOEWE cotton shirt-dresses. Art’s look is also heavily curated with what Anderson calls
“an arrogance to the total look.” Tashi helped make Art into a brand which reflects in his super-
polished Uniqlo tennis kit.
Perhaps even more than coming up with the personal style story for each of the characters, other
product placements are found in this film as well. Notably Tashi’s early Adidas campaign and
the Aston Martin billboard of Tashi and Art that appears so prominently in the last act of the
film. These endorsements reflect the characters rising through the ranks and show up during
some of the most intense moments of the film.
Dressing oneself is a way of branding and Jonathan Anderson found a way to do this in a
personal and interpersonal way that reflects the character’s status, growth, and the way they’re
perceived by others. On the social media front, #TashiMadeMeWearIt is a tag started by Law
Roach, image architect and Zendaya’s longtime stylist that encourages fans to show up in their
best “tennis core” and the Challengers social media team enthusiastically reshares photos to help
promote the film.
Challengers is a style film and the first in what is sure to be a multi-film collaboration between
Jonathan Anderson and Luca Guadagnino. Anderson will be the costume director in
Guadagnino’s upcoming film, Queer which is due to be released in late 2024.