Recently saw the movie “Battle of the Sexes” about the tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, and was puzzled by an item on the dress BJK wore - an image is here, but I can’t figure out what the small pin/embroidery on the left collar is. Is it the figure of a person? Looks to me almost like a small person with a scarf blowing in the wind, but I have no idea why that would be decorating a tennis dress.
Any ideas?
Here is a higher-resolution image–a woman in a skirt with a tennis racket.
Thanks! I couldn’t figure it out from the lower-resolution image.
Ah, OK, now I see it. The figure is in a very strange posture. I wonder why?
Looks like an embroidery patch. Maybe whoever made it just wasn’t especially good at it.
It kind of looks like a child’s drawing that someone converted to an embroidery patch. There’s probably a story there.
Here is an article about the dress. It isn’t mentioned specifically, but the patch is probably part of the last-minute decorating.
Moved to the Game Room.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Looks like she’s just about to serve. https://youtu.be/vaWl2HBBOKY?t=13s
It is on the dress in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History but she was wearing it before that match. In the movie she is wearing it at the press conference to announce the match. I have seen photos from finals were she was wearing it. Here she is wearing it at Wimbledon with Rosie Casals after winning the doubles.
Rosie’s wearing one too.
Looks to me like the woman is bouncing the ball before the serve, although the right (racket) arm is in an odd position. I’d expect it to be straight, racket pointed somewhat diagonally toward the ground.
