Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen's denim dispute questions the deal with dress codes

From Wimbledon's all-white rule to beach volleyball's skimpy bikinis, even athletes like Serena Williams are not spared from attire controversies.

Carlson was fined a token US$200 by FIDE for wearing jeans at the World Rapid Championships

On Jan 4, Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen married Ella Victoria Malone at the Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo. The bride glowed in a high-neck, long-sleeve gown of lace and silk, while the tousled-haired groom beamed in a dark tuxedo — and, thankfully, no jeans.

Carlsen’s ebullience was a stark contrast to his foul mood just one week prior when he abandoned his match at the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York because the chess governing body FIDE insisted that he change out of his jeans to play. To everyone’s relief, Carlsen declared three days later that he would return to defend his title, which he did, after being fined a token US$200 by FIDE, and the latter magnanimously announcing that it would relax its dress code henceforth to allow for “elegant minor deviations” of its official list of acceptable attire.

Chess thrives on discipline and structure, values that extend from the board to the broader conduct of players, and the strict dress code was definitely aimed at promoting decorum and generally upholding an atmosphere of respect for the game. However, chess is also a lucrative spectator game, with governing bodies controlling and reaping huge revenues. So, did FIDE relent because Carlsen was the highest profile name in chess, having won 64 major titles since emerging as a child prodigy in the sport at 13? And did they also worry: if one player was allowed to defy and break the dress code without consequence, would others follow suit, potentially in more disruptive ways, and not even necessarily related to dress?

 

Magnus Carlsen wins against Jan-Krzysztof Duda in their first semifinal game! #RapidBlitz Lennart Ootes

Posted by FIDE - International Chess Federation on Tuesday, December 31, 2024

 

It was also surely what Wimbledon feared before it finally changed its women’s dress code last year for the first time in 146 years to allow its female players to wear dark-coloured undershorts — a move made to alleviate the worries of those on their period. (Actually, Wimbledon did not have much of a choice, since the idea that female athletes should be required to dress in any way other than that which best suits their demands on the court was feeling rather quaint and outdated at best, archaic and sexist at worst.)

Although significant, it was a small concession because Wimbledon’s all-white dress code has remained strictly intact. Tennis attire has to be almost entirely white, not off-white or cream. Trims in different colours are allowed, but no wider than 1cm. But why the fanatical obsession with white? To quote Robert Lake, author of A Social History of Tennis in Britain: “White hides sweat the best, looks clean, sharp and tidy, representing goodness [aesthetically] and, given cricket connections, also reflects upper-middle-class leisure historically.”

Nevertheless, Wimbledon has not been alone in enforcing a dress code to protect its brand. Serena Williams wore a Wakanda-inspired black catsuit to win the French Open in 2018 — her first Grand Slam since giving birth, and was banned from wearing it at future tournaments.

Still, shouldn’t sports attire evolve as societal views change?

 

 

Take beach volleyball. First appearing in the Olympics at the Barcelona Games as an introductory sport in 1992, it became an official event four years later in Atlanta, and with 24 countries competing in it in the 2024 Paris Olympics, there’s no questioning its popularity today.

And yet, beach volleyball was thrown into controversy in 2012, when the International League for Women’s Rights protested against gender discrimination in the sport, pointing out the glaring differences between uniforms for men and women. Why were female players required to wear figure-hugging skimpy bikinis, while male players could wear loose tank tops and shorts?

Even more sports attire controversies would erupt in 2021.

On July 18, 2021, Norway’s beach handball federation was fined US$1,764 by the European Handball Federation after its women’s team donned shorts instead of bikini bottoms in the bronze medal match of the European Handball Championships in Bulgaria. While supporters around the world cheered them on, the country’s sports minister called the punishment “completely ridiculous” and the singer P!nk offered to pay the fine. On the very same day, Paralympian Olivia Breen competing at the England Senior and Disability Track & Field Championships in Bedford, the UK, provoked a remark from a woman competition official that her shorts were “too short and inappropriate”.

And so, within the span of one day, the world was presented with an absurd paradox: Breen and the Norwegian women’s beach handball team both wore shorts in competition — but Breen was criticised for exposing too much skin, and the handball team, for not exposing enough.

Angela Schneider, an Olympic medallist in rowing in the 1980s, hailed it as a major cultural awakening that reverberated beyond sports and called out the unfair scrutiny and demeaning requirements imposed on women athletes.

 

Vi er kjempestolte over disse jentene som under EM i Beachhåndball hevet stemmen og ga beskjed om at NOK ER NOK! Vi i...

Posted by Norges Håndballforbund on Tuesday, July 20, 2021

 

National sports associations and international governing bodies justified sexualised competition clothing as a way to attract financial support and keep viewership ratings up, said Schneider, while media coverage often focused on women’s figures and not their performance. Surely athletes should have more say in what kinds of clothing they perform in?

Anyway, the issue got even more attention one week later when the women’s German team at the Tokyo Olympic Games 2021 wore long-legged unitards, which the German Gymnastics Federation called a statement “against sexualisation in gymnastics”.  The full-length legs were still skin-tight, but added a level of modesty instead of the sleeveless or long-sleeved leotard that had been the standard since the 1930s. Criticisms that the catsuit would obscure the gymnast’s form were shut down by the reminder that male gymnasts typically wore a singlet under comparatively loose, stirrup trousers; so what’s the problem, really?

Well, it is a question we continue to ask here in Malaysia.

In gymnastics, the participation of female gymnasts has dwindled because of the positions taken by the Islamist party PAS. In 2015, Malaysian gymnast Farah Ann Abdul Hadi’s first-ever gold medal at the SEA Games was overshadowed by criticism on social media and from PAS that she was exposing her aurat. Farah Ann, one of only three Malaysian gymnasts to qualify for the Olympics, shrugged off the attacks, but retired in 2022. In 2023, the PAS-led state of Terengganu banned the state’s female gymnasts from taking part in Sukan Malaysia (Sukma), reassigning them to the wushu team instead.

Meanwhile, the World Badminton Federation (WBF) made headlines in 2011 by requiring that its women athletes wear skirts or dresses to appear more womanly, while male players needed to only wear “proper attire”. Women were permitted to still wear shorts or long pants for cultural or religious reasons, but only beneath a dress or skirt. Said the deputy president of WBF, “We just want [female players] to look feminine and have a nice presentation so that [women’s badminton] will be more popular. Interest is declining … some women compete in oversized shorts and long pants … almost like men.”

Anyway, I’m inclined to believe that this sexist dress code is one reason that Malaysian badminton has not engaged more talent and produced better female players. And the reason for it? The WBF, like many international sports governing bodies, is disproportionately run by men. In 2012, when the regressive dress code went into effect, only two of the 25 members of the federation’s council and executive board were women. So, yes, go figure.  

 

This article first appeared on Jan 13, 2025 in The Edge Malaysia.

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