The Japan Times - Osaka makes spectacular Wimbledon arrival in kimono-inspired dress

Osaka has become known for wearing flamboyant outfits before starting her matches and the four-time Grand Slam champion's Wimbledon costume was eagerly-awaited.

With fans and photographers crowded around Court Three prior to her Wimbledon first-round match against France's Elsa Jacquemot, Osaka didn't disappoint.

To match the All England Club's strict all-white dress code, the 28-year-old wore a kimono-style ceremonial dress decorated with embroidered cranes and cherry blossom.

She paired the white outfit with a traditional kanzashi hair ornament featuring white flowers before removing both to reveal a white Nike dress.

While much more conventional, the dress is inspired by kirigami, the Japanese art of paper cutting.

Osaka has worked with a range of fashion designers on her outfits, going for a jellyfish-modelled look at the Australian Open dedicated to her daughter Shai and a gold dress inspired by the Eiffel Tower at the French Open.

For Wimbledon, the former world number one collaborated with Japanese designer Hana Yagi, posting a video accompanied by the caption: "Culture".

Speaking to British Vogue, Osaka said: "I like to use fashion as a medium for storytelling.

"Every walk-out is an opportunity to bring people into my creative world. The fact that people care about it and are excited to see what's next is also pretty cool.

"Obviously, the outfit has to be white, but, aside from that, you can play with a lot of different design elements. In some ways, not having to think about the colour allows you to highlight other cool features like fabrics and textures."

Osaka's longtime creative director Marty Harper said Wimbledon's traditions played a key role in the design of the outfit.

"It's one of the few places in sport where ceremony still feels inseparable from competition. We wanted to acknowledge that while creating a dialogue with Japanese ceremonial dress," he said.

"The starting point was the idea of evolving ceremony. The garment is constructed from vintage shiromuku, ceremonial garments originally created to mark important moments in people's lives."

H.Takahashi--JT