Kevin Germanier transformed Naomi Osaka’s old competition kits into upcycled couture entrance looks at the 2026 French Open.
Naomi Osaka has been walking onto the court at Roland-Garros at this year’s French Open in entrance looks built by Swiss couturier Kevin Germanier from Osaka’s own previous competition garments. For her first-round match on May 26, that meant an all-black corseted top constructed from kits she had already played in, with hundreds of hand-applied crystals across the bodice, and a pleated skirt cut from the lining of a jacket she had already worn. Snap closures at the waist allowed the look to come off before the match began, revealing a gold-sequined Nike match dress underneath. Germanier called the concept “court-ture.”
“I wanted to celebrate her strength, individuality and athleticism, while ensuring that her first step onto the court felt just as powerful and unforgettable as her game,” he said. “And since this is her first appearance since the Met Gala, we knew we had to make a statement.”
The looks have drawn attention well beyond fashion media. After Osaka’s first-round pre-match ritual — the entrance, the reveal, the gold dress — her opponent Laura Siegemund told the press that Osaka was putting on a fashion show and running down the clock. Osaka won in straight sets. She returned for her second-round match on May 28 in another couture look, and Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one, weighed in publicly on the coverage.
Germanier, based in Paris, has built his practice around materials that fashion’s supply chain produces and then discards. His spring 2026 haute couture collection — to be presented formally at Paris Haute Couture Week in July — was assembled from deadstock donated by seven LVMH houses, including Berluti uniforms made for the French team’s opening ceremony at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Those garments had a single occasion and no planned second use; Germanier kept the original patinated collars visible in the finished pieces. One dress in the collection was constructed from nearly 3,000 puzzle pieces, sewn and varnished over 420 hours of work. Where the LVMH collection draws from other brands’ surplus, the Osaka collaboration uses her own — a distinction Germanier said was intentional.
Osaka has been developing her pre-match looks as a fashion statement for several seasons. The Williams sisters established the convention, arriving at majors in looks that went beyond functional sportswear. The walk-on is not subject to kit regulations the way match play is, and athletes have used that latitude with varying degrees of intentionality. Osaka’s choice to work with Germanier specifically — a designer whose practice is built entirely on existing materials — gives the collaboration a logic that most athlete-designer partnerships don’t have.
Siegemund called it a fashion show and meant it as a criticism. As Osaka advances through the draw, that reading has become less and less distinguishable from the point.
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