"Honestly, I think being a WAG is the least interesting thing about me," Paige Lorenze tells me over the phone. Never has there been so much discussion around WAGs—wives and girlfriends of athletes—since Victoria Beckham was splashed all over British tabloids in the early 2000s. Two decades later, the tennis court is now fashion's preferred arena for dissecting WAG wardrobes, and Lorenze is a big reason why. She may be a magnet for ESPN's cameras while seated courtside, but her influence extends far beyond Tommy Paul's player's box. She's also making her mark as a fashion entrepreneur. "The more I've poured into my brand, Dairy Boy, the more confident and authentic I've become as a person and a woman," she tells Who What Wear.
In 2023, Wimbledon served as the backdrop to one of Lorenze's most viral outfits—a lime-green tweed minidress by Self-Portrait—but this year, she's upping the ante at the famed tournament with a fully custom Dairy Boy look. Lorenze worked closely with her newly hired design director Maddie Pesavento as well as the NYC-based atelier Mint Collaborative on a handmade dress that will, no doubt, become the talk of SW19 (tennis insiders' shorthand for Wimbledon, referencing the town's postcode). Keep scrolling for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the design process and read our in-depth interview with Lorenze.
What was the impetus behind this custom look, and why is it perfect for Wimbledon in particular?
In the past six months, I hired a new design director at Dairy Boy, and we've been working so hard on a really special collection that's coming out at the end of August called the Evergreen Collection. The dresses in that collection are so incredible that I wanted to find a way to wear the silhouette to Wimbledon. While I'm also wearing Thom Browne and Burberry this week, I've always wanted to represent my own brand and what I'm building, especially as a female who's there to support my boyfriend and is also a business owner. So we brought this whole vision together tied to the collection.
The inspiration is Wimbledon itself, the history behind the tournament, and Wimbledon whites. The embroidery was inspired by a 1967 dress by British designer Ted Tinling. These are all things that have to do with my life dating a tennis player and being a brand owner.
Can you explain more about how this one-of-a-kind look will be translated for your Dairy Boy customers in late August?
Basically, [the Dairy Boy version] will be the same exact silhouette and pattern, just in a different fabric. So it looks very similar. I think it'll be a really fun "aha" moment for my community and customers to also feel like they can have a piece of [my Wimbledon look]. It's really cool to create an elevated version of Dairy Boy pieces. It's really important for me at Dairy Boy that our products are really high-quality but also affordable. Being able to make the dress for every girl is super important for me, so I'm really excited to introduce that dress and have people feel like they've seen it before.
What do you love about attending Wimbledon?
I feel very honored as a non-tennis player to be able to go to these tournaments and get a behind-the-scenes look that a lot of people don't get. My favorite thing about Wimbledon is probably just how much thought and time they put into even the landscaping and how visually aesthetic it is. I was walking around the other day, and the whole place smells like fresh linen. When Tommy and I first started dating, he was telling me about how amazing Wimbledon was. When a place is so hyped up, sometimes, it doesn't meet your expectations, but it blew away my expectations. I highly recommend it!
Can you discuss your vision for the future of Dairy Boy and how you hope to expand?
As I mentioned, we're launching the Evergreen Collection, and it's the collection that I'm most proud of so far. I think it is incredibly unique. It feels very American in a sporty, preppy, and also outdoorsy way that feels unique to the brand. We feel like, at this price point, it's not being done right now, so launching this core collection is gonna be really huge for the brand and the business. So far, we've done the drop model only because we just can't keep inventory in stock. Now, we're making a huge investment into this core collection. Our brand's identity is really exciting for me, and I think the brand is going to grow a lot through having a shoppable website. I'm really excited to expand the mission of the brand, which is basically one of good, simple pleasures and nostalgia in an American style. The brand has grown so much every year—it's pretty crazy—even without a shoppable website. There's a lot more to come, and I think that our existing customers and new customers are going to be really excited about this collection we're launching in August.
What has been your best-selling item since the brand's inception, and why do you think it resonated so well?
Our 100% cotton terry-cloth camo collection was the most viral in terms of units that we moved through. I'm so grateful we had that product because it single-handedly allowed me to grow my team. I think people are very pleasantly surprised by the quality. There is so much price gouging that goes on with sweatshirts in general right now, and I feel like we offered a really high-quality product with an amazing fit and an amazing print at an affordable price. I think that it really made us stand out, and it really allowed us to grow the community.
A lot of people ask me if there are challenges with having a viral product. I don't see it as a challenge because I feel like I grew a really strong community through that virality. All of my customers feel like they're a part of something greater than a piece of clothing, and that feeling we've created has really lent itself nicely to so many other avenues. We've done sweaters. We've done jackets. We've done so much. Now, we're in this really thoughtful core collection that's the same quality, same feeling.
Can you discuss how you're involved in both the business and the creative sides of Dairy Boy?
I'm the founder and the creative director, and I've been very, very involved in acting as a CEO for the past five years. In the past six months, I did bring on a CEO, which was a really exciting step for me in my business. He and I work very closely together, and I'm really running the business and the creative side right now because we are still a small team. It's so important to me, and I am very particular about how I want this brand to grow. I'm a very detail-oriented person, so I'm heavily involved, and I think I'm really good at that side of it. I do like the team aspect—I love leading and having a strong voice because I think that's what will make the brand stand out. I also love to learn. I didn't go to business school, so I feel like I'm learning every single day. The more I've poured into Dairy Boy, the more confident and authentic I've become as a person and a woman. The brand, in so many ways, is a reflection of my life and the things that I love, so it's really been amazing. I definitely don't see myself stepping away anytime soon from the business side of things.
Why do you think there's such a big interest in tennis WAGs right now, and how do you think this group of women is different from previous generations?
The wives and girlfriends I know on the tennis tour are all incredibly hardworking and have many different things to offer, which is really cool. Everyone has their own interests, so we all stand out from each other even though we're all creating tennis content. We've created businesses around it, and I think that's empowering.
Just as it's been in the past, in talking to older wives and girlfriends, it's incredibly hard to work on the road dating players. If you have a job in the U.S. or Europe, the time changes are crazy, so it's difficult to have a normal 9-to-5 job. It takes sacrifice to be on the road with them, so the way that a lot of us have been able to create our own businesses is incredible.
Tennis has always been such an aesthetic and fashionable sport before any of us, before the cell phone, so it's no surprise to me that tennis is getting that spotlight. We're all using it to our advantage, but the sport has always been this way—we're just shining a light on it.
The coolest thing for me is that tennis is just one of my businesses. [On one hand], I have my home brand, American Charm, and my clothing brand, Dairy Boy. Then I have my personal business, which is the deals I do on my Instagram and/or the WAG tennis stuff. I love having those layers to my content because I'm a multifaceted woman—we all are. Honestly, being a WAG is the least interesting thing about me, and I think that's the case for a lot of the other WAGs too. We're all doing a lot of different things, and I think that's why people have enjoyed following all of our journeys.
What do you enjoy about creating courtside outfits?
The content around tennis is so exciting for me personally. Since I live in Connecticut now and I have horses, I'm either in the office, or I'm in the barn. The tennis tournaments are really the only times I get to dress up, so I've been able to create more fashion content in an authentic way through tennis, which has been nice for my existing audience to be able to save outfit inspiration.
