Artist/Maker
Ted Tinling
(British, 1910 – 1990)
Related person
Billie Jean King
(American, b. 1943)
Philadelphia Freedoms tennis dress
ca. 1974
Synthetic textile
Overall: 31 × 22 1/2 in. (78.7 × 57.2 cm)
The Billie Jean King Collection
2019.14.3
Billie Jean King wore this dress during the inaugural season of World Team Tennis, a mixed-gender tennis league founded in part by Larry King in 1973. Billie Jean King came up with the name for the Philadelphia Freedoms, the team she played for and now owns. Elton John’s famous song by the same name was inspired by King.
DescriptionSleeveless tennis dress; navy blue with white trim and four white liberty bells around skirt; eight plastic buttons down front, five blue, four white; applied red embroidered “PHILADELPHIA” patch above front central Liberty Bell, red embroidered “FREEDOMS” across it.MarkingsSewn-in label: “teddy tinling / MADE IN ENGLAND / London.”
ClassificationsCLOTHING AND FASHION
Collections
- Billie Jean King Archive Highlights