Naomi Osaka’s famous speed of 200 km/h is certainly slow compared to the sting of a jellyfish, which can reach a range of 10 to 20 micrometers in less than a millionth of a second. But it wasn’t just the invertebrate’s speed that the tennis player called upon as she wore a jellyfish-inspired outfit as she took on Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic in their first round match at the Australian Open.
As he entered Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, the 28-year-old tennis player’s look consisted of a pleated miniskirt over wide-leg trousers, a wide-brimmed hat with a white veil and a parasol. Jellyfish-like elements were also incorporated into her on-court outfit, with a watery turquoise and green palette and soft ruffles on the warm-up jacket and dress, referencing tentacles.
Like Osaka told Vogue before the match, which she went on to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, the inspiration came while reading a storybook to her two-year-old daughter, Shai: “Reading to my daughter, discovering beauty in unexpected places like the underwater world, working with artists who care about meaning – those moments have all shaped the way I see this expression today.”
It is the result of a collaboration between Nike, Osaka, its long-time creative collaborator Marty Harper and London-based couturier Robert Wun, who has previously dressed stars such as Beyoncé, Cardi B and Ariana Grande.
Wun, who is reportedly a big tennis fan, was inspired by Osaka for one of his previous collections. “One of the looks of mine autumn collection 2024 was inspired by her courtside moment when a butterfly landed on her face mid-match,” he told Vogue, referring to the moment at the 2021 Australian Open, a tournament she later won, when a butterfly landed on her face during her third-round match against Tunisia. Our Jabeur. Wun described it as “a simple, beautiful scene that went viral when she gently set it aside. I wanted to revisit that story and weave it into this design and collaboration.” The design features butterflies on top of the hat and parasol.
Over the years, tennis has had some notable fashion moments. From Serena Williams in a Virgil Abloh x Nike tutu dress at the 2018 US Open to Suzanne Lenglen and her hemlines to Anne White, who wore a white catsuit when she played at Wimbledon in 1985, and was told he could no longer wear it. In recent years, heralded by Jannik Sinner carrying a duffel bag covered in Gucci’s GG monogram during his dressing room to court at Wimbledon, the idea that tennis has its own version of a catwalk has been borne out. The NBA has its “tunnel fashion”where players dress in the designer nines to walk into the arena before a match, the Premier League has a runway from bus to changing room, and all tennis tournaments involve a stroll from dressing room to court.
Osaka is aware of the tailoring skills of tennis. In conversation with Vogueshe said: “When I look back at the players who came before me, I think about how those moments – those looks – became memories that live forever. A lot of the time, other people get to write our stories for us.” Of her jellyfish-inspired ensemble, she added: “This felt like a moment where I could write a little piece of myself.”
But this feels like it’s breaking new ground. As Vogue noted, “Haute couture has never been worn like this in a live sports environment.”
Despite having played with style in the past – perhaps most playfully through enchantment Labub doll keychains worn during her matches – this feels like Osaka’s most dramatic style moment yet. Speaking to Vogue about a newfound confidence in clothing, Osaka said: “Fashion really opened up for me when I stopped thinking about how it would be received and started thinking about how it made me feel. The biggest change is realizing that style doesn’t have to be loud to be powerful. It can be quiet, emotional and layered. That realization changed everything for me.”
But with Osaka on one side, the jellyfish is also a star of the show, and it’s not the first time the alien ocean creatures have had a moment of heightened popularity on land. In 2024, jellyfish inspired everything from hairstyles to lamps to makeup and couture dresses.
Their silhouettes are a gift for spectacle. As scientist and science writer Juli Berwald, author of Spineless: the Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone, told the Guardian in 2024, around the time of the ‘jellyfish trend’: “Anyone with a sense of aesthetics should pause and say, ‘Wow, what is that?’” Plus, their grace of movement feels like something a tennis player might want to replicate – not to mention signaling that you have a stinger – which isn’t true can be. also bad from a sports psychology point of view.
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