Naomi Osaka is not one for dressing down for a big game. The four-time Grand Slam champion has become almost as renowned for her walk-on wardrobes as she has for her forehand.
Wimbledon, however, presents an altogether different challenge. The All England Club’s famously uncompromising all-white dress code leaves little room for exploration. Yet if yesterday’s opening-round appearance against Elsa Jacquemot proved anything, it’s that creative limitations often produce the most compelling results.
On the first day of the tournament and her opening match, Osaka stepped onto the grounds draped in an ethereal kimono-inspired ensemble complete with a sweeping tulle train, embroidered cranes, and delicate hair ornaments.
The designer behind the look was Tokyo-based Hana Yagi, who chose not to recreate a traditional kimono but to reinterpret the garment through reworked vintage bridal and transitional ceremonial dresses. “From the very beginning, there was a clear vision to create a look with a strong sense of character and storytelling within Wimbledon’s all-white tradition,” she exclusively told Elite Traveler.
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“By combining vintage white bridal kimono and traditional kimono with contrasting materials such as tulle, I wanted to create a new expression while maintaining respect for tradition.”
The idea of honoring tradition was echoed by Osaka when speaking after her 6-1, 7-5 victory: “When I think about Wimbledon, it’s obviously the all-white. There’s obviously the tradition of it all.”
“In my head, when I think about that, I think about my cultures, my heritage, which is Japanese and Haitian. Then, if I dive deeper into Japanese culture, I think about the most iconic silhouette, which for me is a kimono. You don’t have to see the color of a kimono to know that it is a kimono.”
For Yagi, designing an outfit for Wimbledon meant balancing that symbolism and heritage with practicality. Not only did the garment have to comply with one of sport’s strictest dress codes, but it also had to disappear in moments when Osaka revealed her competition look of a Nike tennis dress with floral appliqués detailing.
“Since the look had to be put on and removed within a very limited amount of time, I researched contemporary kimono dressing techniques and ways to make the obi quick to fasten and remove,” Yagi explains. Since kimonos are traditionally quite heavy, she purposely chose lightweight materials for the rest of the garment to balance the overall weight and silhouette of the outfit.
Knowing the design would only be seen for a fleeting moment also changed how she approached its construction. Rather than focusing on static detail, Yagi paid “particular attention to the movement of the sleeves and the volume of the train, hoping to create a silhouette that would immediately capture people’s attention – even for someone with no particular interest in fashion – through a single photograph.”
But, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, for Yagi, the tournament’s famous dress code restrictions never posed a challenge at all. “The all-white rule actually suited my practice very naturally,” she says. “I usually work with discarded wedding dresses and traditional white bridal kimonos that have reached the end of their life after being used in wedding venues and photo studios. Because of that, I never felt restricted by the absence of color.”
Yagi sees meaning in the lives these garments have already lived. “Rather than erasing the memories and time they carry, I want to deconstruct them and reconnect them to a new story,” she says.
“For me, respecting tradition doesn’t mean preserving it exactly as it has always been,” she notes. “I believe the role of an artist or designer is to respect tradition while also having the courage to break it apart, rebuild it, and allow it to evolve. There is an important difference between deconstructing something and treating it carelessly. What matters is understanding its history and meaning, then giving it a new life.”
