New owners of iconic tennis dress are revealed – and it's Wimbledon

Model Fiona Walker, from Stourbridge, was the model in the saucy shot depicting a player cheekily hitching up her skirt.

And now it has emerged that the dress worn in the well-known image was purchased by the Museum at Wimbledon at auction last year.

The All-England Tennis Club paid £15,500 last July for both the dress and racket made famous in the 1970s poster, but at the time chose to keep its identity a secret.

But the home of tennis has now unveiled the handmade dress as an exhibit and invited Carol Knotts, who made the outfit all those years ago, along as a guest of honour.

Officials at the club were forced to apologise recently after using the image to advertise its powerful posters event at Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum.

It prompted a volley of criticism and claims of sexism on social media after the club tweeted a photo of the iconic poster.

Although the tweet was taken down, officials said the image would still form part of the exhibition.

Carol, who lives in Gloucestershire and is a personal injury and clinical negligence barrister at No5 Chambers, said she was thrilled the club had purchased the dress.

"It could have gone to anyone, private collectors, celebrities, who knows?" she said.

"But I am so pleased Wimbledon considered it important enough to feature in their museum so it can be enjoyed by everyone."

As a teenager, Carol played tennis at her local club in Stourbridge and made the dress from a pattern.

One day her friend Fiona asked to borrow the dress and the racket for a photo shoot with then boyfriend Martin Elliott.

Mr Martin, who died in 2010, sold the image rights to Athena and the poster went on to sell more than 2 million copies.

Carol said before last year's auction, held at Fieldings Auctioneers, in Stourbridge, she had the dress tucked away in a cupboard at her home.

"When I first thought about selling it a few years ago I did think about offering it to the Wimbledon museum but I really didn't think they would be interested.

"I can't quite believe that the dress I used to wear to play tennis in will now be part of the Wimbledon Museum collection. It's incredible."

The dress was sold on the day of the Wimbledon ladies' singles final last July, and at the time was expected to make between £1,000 and £2,000.

But bids flooded in for the piece of poster history - including one as far away as New Zealand.

Bidders battled it out in person, over the phone and internet as they tried to secure the dress.

Carol, who lives in Gloucestershire, has been with No5 since 2011, having been called to the bar in 1996.

Fiona Walker, from Oldswinford, was an 18-year-old art student when she posed for the photo in 1976 at Edgbaston Tennis Club.

Mrs Walker refused to comment on the recent furore surrounding the image.

And some Twitter users said they did not believe the image was controversial.