Naomi Osaka enters Roland-Garros 2026 with a custom couture piece by Swiss designer Kevin Germanier, created from her Nike competition garments. The project brings tennis performance wear into a new visual context, using Osaka’s original skirt, dress, and jacket as the material base for a design built through deconstruction, reconstruction, and hand-applied surface work. Germanier approaches the garment as a transformation of athletic clothing, turning familiar tennis pieces into a sculptural look made for one of the sport’s most visible stages.
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The design centers on a structured corset made from Osaka’s competition garments. Germanier uses the original materials to shape the body with control, giving the piece a defined architectural line while retaining a direct link to the court. Snap closures allow the corset to shift in function, giving the garment a practical system within its couture construction.
Germanier builds the skirt from the interior layers of Osaka’s jacket. The pleated construction creates volume and movement, with each pleat hand-set to give the piece its dramatic rhythm. The skirt carries the designer’s recognizable sense of motion, using existing material to create a new silhouette. Its layered structure adds depth as the wearer moves, revealing the internal construction that shaped the finished garment.
The piece draws from 1990s couture codes, bringing structure, ornament, and drama into direct conversation with sportswear. Germanier uses the athletic body as the foundation, treating performance garments as material with memory. The design keeps the trace of Osaka’s competition wardrobe while reshaping it into a collectible couture object.
Germanier applies hundreds of crystals by hand across the molded bodice, creating a sharp play of light over the corset structure. Beadwork follows the seams, drawing attention to the garment’s construction and giving the piece a more graphic finish. The layered skirt adds further technical complexity. Its interior strata appear through movement, giving the piece a changing presence as it shifts around the body. Germanier also incorporates snap and elastic fastenings, allowing the ensemble to move between presentation and wear.
The collaboration positions upcycling as the central method behind the design. Germanier takes garments associated with speed, repetition, and competition, then turns them into a piece defined by structure and spectacle.
