Exclusive: Blood, Bodily Transformation, and 659,000 Stitches: Naomi Osaka Explains Her Daring Met Gala 2026 Look
At the Met’s press conference Monday morning, which christened the opening of the Costume Institute’s 2026 exhibition “Costume Art,” Met Gala co-chair Venus Williams, another tennis great, addressed the crowd. In her speech, she said fashion “allowed me to connect to myself” more than anything else—than to fans, than to brands, than to the pop culture conversation. I asked Osaka if she felt similarly. “I think for me, obviously, I appreciate that people like the fashion,” said Osaka. “I would say, yeah, I primarily do it as a way to express myself. I think, you know, growing up, I lived in New York and Florida for my younger years, and then I went to Japan one year and it kind of blew me away how people were able to express themselves so well, and I always took that with me. I realized early that on the tennis court, you know, we’re kind of limited. So I would say the fashion is really just to have fun and spice it up a bit.” That may be …
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