When Naomi Osaka walks onto the court at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York, this week, she will be covered in bows. One large bow is pinned like a pillowy prize to the back of her bomber jacket. Underneath her jacket, on the back of her competition dress, a smaller shiny bow rests on four tiers of ruffles.
Two tiny bows are stuck to the backs of her shoes. “Be very honest,” designer Yoon Ahn said she told Osaka when they were conceptualising the look. “There are no wrong ideas.
What are you into right now?” Osaka responded with Japanese subculture references, said Ahn, who co-founded the Tokyo label Ambush in 2008 and began collaborating with Nike in 2018. On Tuesday (Aug 27), Ahn will release an eight-piece collection of vintage tennis-inspired clothing for Nike Women. “She sent me a few looks of this "lolita" goth thing she was really vibing at that moment,” Ahn said.
“They go out and wear pink, frills, bows, lace. It’s about really owning the cutesy-ness and the girly-hood.” Two versions of Osaka’s look were made for the 2024 US Open (which starts Aug 26): one in black, for evening matches, and another in green, for daytime competition.
Nike also made a version for her one-year-old daughter, Shai, who “might” watch her mother play, Osaka said. Read more: Nicol David talks fashion, plus her life after professional squash On a few levels, this is not a typical US Open look. It is custom-made, which Nike has granted only o.