Serena Williams explains why Meghan Markle is her inspiration in clothing design

Tennis star Serena Williams launched her eponymous and self-financed fashion line last year. Since then, the brand is gaining ground. The line is not athleisure – we'll see why later – but focuses instead on high basics with the slogan "Serena Williams' robust, bady and sophisticated clothing."

Some pieces are purely fun (sequined pencil skirt) while others are wardrobe staples (buttoned shirts and tank tops). Read on to learn more about the Williams brand and how she continues to use her friend Meghan Markle as inspiration.

Fashion School

In her spare time as a young tennis player, Williams attended a fashion school. She attended the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale Florida where she studied fashion from 2000 to 2003, according to Business of Fashion.

"I have excelled in model making," Williams said at the publication. "I think it's because I like mathematics and that I like the technical part."

Williams' failed clothing line

Freshly released from the l & # 39; fashion school, Williams launched her own line of eveningwear, but her results were not as convincing for her as tennis.

"Finally, I became realistic. can not wear evening clothes, so let me think of different things I can do, "said Williams," and that's when I started wearing only sportswear, more everyday. " and then I ended up attaching myself HSN, which was really good. "

" HSN "to which Williams refers is the home shopping network.In 2014, she collaborated with HSN to create Serena Signature Statement But Williams was quick to want to diversify

"I learned a lot, but I felt that there was so much more that I wanted to do during another demo, a Broader demo that I wanted to achieve, "said Williams Fashion Affairs. "From the design point of view, there was only a limited number of usable tissues. It just was not me. Even though we asked for a label at HSN, it was not what I wanted to do.

And while Williams is a successful tennis player, she is no stranger to chess.

"I've been trying to do something for years now. I have been doing this for so long and it never hit, "she said.

She currently has a contract with Nike that prohibits her from creating "sportswear or sportswear," but this is not a setback for Williams. "At the moment, I think the market could be really saturated with athletics," she told Business of Fashion.

Clothing "worthy of a royal princess"

In an interview with the publication, Williams explained that she used her friend Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Susbad, as a source of inspiration for her line.

"It's so much fun because people are like," Oh my God. Like wow, the quality is crazy, "she said. "Listen, if we give our products to Meghan, it must be of the highest quality possible. That's what I told our team internally: "We have to make sure that the quality is excellent and that it's worthy of being a royal princess!"

Markle wore his friend's "Boss Blazer" while he was in Australia on a royal tour with Prince Harry. The blazer is now out of stock, but it has become one of the best-selling items after its use by Markle.

How did Serena Williams and Meghan Markle meet?

The star of tennis met Meghan Markle in 2014 at Celebrity Beach Bowl of DirectTV, where they both played in the same football team.

"We got along well, we took pictures, we laughed watching the football match in which we were both playing and we were not talking about tennis or gambling. Actor, but all the good old female stuff, "Markle wrote on his life blog, now gone, The Tig .