This year, the world of sports didn’t just serve up thrilling matches and fierce face-offs—it also delivered some truly spectacular sartorial moments from competing athletes. There’s just something about sports that naturally aligns with the world of fashion and style—after all, costumes and jerseys are an integral part of most games. The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, unsurprisingly, was a style spectacle—what else would you expect from the Fashion Capital of the world? But it didn’t stop there.
Across countless sporting events, athletes raised the bar, taking their style game up a notch. Naomi Osaka Naomi Osaka, the 26-year-old tennis star returned to the 2024 US Open after giving birth to her daughter. She turned the tennis court into her personal fashion runway.
Her standout look was a collaboration between designer Yoon Ahn, the creative director of Ambush—a Tokyo-based fashion label—and Nike. Naomi was covered in bows and ribbons, and the skirt featured removable tulle tutu. The outfit was complemented by pearls speckled throughout her hair.
In a conversation with Jessica Testa of The New York Times, Osaka—who was born in Japan and moved to the United States at the age of three—shared the inspiration behind her look. The bow and ruffle details, she explained, were rooted in Japanese culture. "I remember one of the first times I went to Japan, I saw so many frills and so many bows," she said.
Ahn also spoke to The New York Times about their collaboration.
