Tennis star revamps image

There may be no better tack for repairing an image that has gotten tattered and torn than getting a fashion makeover.

It can be a reliable source of salvation for a starlet who finds herself in grainy TMZ videos more often than the golden spotlight of "Access Hollywood." The aggrieved political wife also has embraced the fashion makeover, most often in the pages of Vogue, as a form of payback -- comeuppance for the husband who did her wrong.

Now, a sports star has revamped her public image with a combination of weight loss, glitz management and body image confessional.

Tennis champion Serena Williams has updated her style. Fans may recall the pummeling her reputation took last summer after her unsportsmanlike outburst at a U.S. Open line judge.

As Williams comes off a Wimbledon win and her 13th grand slam title, she is receiving plaudits in the August Harper's Bazaar for her leaner physique, which she attributes to Pilates, and a fresh bob. She also was photographed at Wimbledon's winners gala clutching her trophy and wearing a metallic gold Burberry minidress from the brand's spring collection.

She selected the $3,495 dress with the help of Burberry designer Christopher Bailey, the creative whiz who blew the dust off the brand's signature tartan and the ultimate personal shopper. The frock, with its slightly weathered patina, was a perfect choice for Williams. The shape was essentially a glorified T-shirt and offered just the right nod to athleticism. The dress was covered unevenly in tiny gold sequins, which prevented Williams from looking as though she was wearing a thick layer of glitz. The frock was intentionally imperfect, which gave it character. It looked like a treasure that might have been uncovered in a vintage shop -- the best vintage shop ever. It did not glimmer with the self-conscious brio of new money. It spoke of sassiness and confidence.

The cut was flattering, too, with its cap sleeves and its tastefully slit neckline. It was a glamorous and even sexy dress, but it exuded those characteristics effortlessly. Sure, it was short. But why hide such enviably toned legs? It also adhered to the only worthwhile fashion rule in these anything-goes times: Show off one attribute per ensemble -- legs, cleavage, arms, back -- not everything at once. Confidence is restraint. There's no need to display all the assets; dole them out, bit by bit.

In her interview in Harper's Bazaar, Williams talks about finally coming to terms with her body type. Perhaps this is the explanation for such a fine fashion choice. She was not born with the long, lithe physique of her sister, Venus. The older sibling has a body that is much less challenging to dress; it's no wonder that designers gravitate to that kind of sleek figure when they're booking runway models. Serena, with all her curves, envied that ease. She has had to work much harder to suss out which clothes serve her well. The Burberry dress was at least one piece of evidence of a lesson well-learned.

Indeed, it is Venus who has been stirring the pot lately with controversial fashion choices on the court. At the French Open, she wore flesh-toned underwear with her tennis skirt, creating the illusion that she'd gone out without her knickers. For another match, she wore an ensemble featuring a corset, which had folks in the media comparing her to a Moulin Rouge cancan dancer. Both choices elicited catcalls from the stands.

The pages of supermarket tabloids are littered with proof that just because one can wear something doesn't mean that one should.

These days, Serena is looking and sounding like a style savant. Serena tells Harper's Bazaar that she has dropped one dress size -- from a 12 to a 10 -- and that her goal was to be less bulky and to gain the knowledge and skills so that, as she ages, she won't "be as wide as this couch."

The style transformation leaves Serena looking a bit more delicate and a little less intimidating -- at least when she's not wielding a tennis racket. In her Burberry look, Williams steers clear of adjectives such as tough or aggressive or downright scary.