Look like Venus and have money left for fries

Reporting by Tiffani Garlic, Lakshmi Gandhi and Annie Shreffler

Tennis champion and celebrity Venus Williams visited the Steve & Barry store in Manahattan today to introduce EleVen, her new line of affordable clothing, sneakers and accessories.
Williams will graduate this year with a degree in fashion from the Art Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and told reporters the ideas for her clothes come from her personal preferences and that the name is inspired by the address of her childhood home.
Fans lined up inside the Manattan Mall to get a glimpse of the tennis super star, saying they love her for being such a great athlete, for using her celebrity to support important causes, and for remaining so feminine.
The price doesn’t hurt either. Most of the apparel, and everything in the EleVen line, boasted prices under $20. That’s what this national retail store’s mission is about: “stripping away the gloss and giving consumers something real.” They’re hoping endorsements from celebrities like Venus Williams and Sarah Jessica Parker, who also has a line of clothing in the store, more consumers will agree that great clothes don’t have to cost a lot.

“It’s not every celebrity or athlete who remembers where they came from and what their parents had to do to clothe and feed their family,” said Howard Schacter, chief partnership officer for Steve & Barry’s, in a recent interview with NPR’s Michelle Singletary.

In a city like New York, where urban teens are known to spend well over $100 for their sneakers regardless of their families finances, hearing from a beautiful, black athlete like Venus Williams that it’s just as cool to play hard and pay less may be just what their parents needed.

New York City’s Department of Parks and Recreation, which offers free tennis lessons to kids every summer, said in a statement that they are happy to see an athlete like Venus Williams make sports apparel more affordable and accessible to all children.

See a vido of Venus visiting here….