Come one, come all. Hot topic off the press (I was meaning to write this the day I saw it but alas I was lazy, hence it coming out a week later), but anyways, let's talk about Naomi Osaka's outfit for her tennis match that took the fashion community (me) by storm.
As I am sure we are all familiar with, many athletes are known in present times to dress up pre match/game/meet/etc. Whether it is a confidence builder or just an opportunity to dress up, one will never know, as it is player dependent. However, as times have gone on, we have seen the arise of player stylists and almost like a competition of who wore it best like we used to see in magazines as kids. Honestly, I am like, is this dress to impress IRL because its funny watching some of the athletes find their style at first, yet moral of the story is that fashion has become entangled with athletics pre-game, more tenfold with the introduction of pro women's athletics to media with women like Angel Reese and Cameron Brink.
However, in recent news, 2 time US Open Champion, Naomi Osaka, POPPED OUT in one of the most interesting and beautiful outfits FOR her match, not just pregame. Now something I want to stress as an athlete myself is that uniformity is integral in many sports as it really does tell you the difference between team members; HOWEVER, tennis, especially pro not collegiate, provides the opportunity to uniquely customize your apparel as it is not a team sport (obviously). Naomi's outfit was in collaboration with Yoon Ahn. Backstory is that Yoon is the co-founder and co-creative director of Japanese brand Ambush. Prior, she was the Dior Men's jewelry design director and now is the Nike Global Women's curator. So cool right.
Naomi was covered in these beautiful green and black bows on both outfits ranging from the bows on the back of her shoes to custom Beats by Dre. Even the sketches of the garment are just stunning, you can see the potential just oozing out of it. Supposedly the garment was inspired by Japanese Lolita goth community which is such interesting inspiration for a tennis outfit, but wow it was awesome. Ruffles on ruffles and a tulle over laying skirt are just so appealing to the eye truly capturing the lacey, anime style they were trying to achieve (as an anime lover this is so cool). I mean in the time of the bow era with constant Sandy Liang collabs like the recent Salomon one, it is no surprise that this caused an uproar in the fashion community.
The question really is, why did this never happen before. I understand functionality purposes, but as a female athletes, WE LOVE TO LOOK GOOD. The line is always "look good, feel good, play good." As softball players, we hate baggy pants or ill fitting uniforms, so let me say if I got to pop out in some cool ish like this, I'd have the game of my life. I feel like if we had the opportunity to make our own uniforms take some fashionable influence, I would be enamored. However, i know in my sport this would be quiteeeee difficult you may say (I basically roll in dirt).
In the end, I thought this was so interesting as someone who loves sports and fashion, and to see both my worlds collide was so transfixing as it literally lived in my mind for like three days straight. Thank you Naomi Osaka for really altering fashion history.
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