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Tennis star Naomi Osaka had a lot of fun at the 2025 US Open. Throughout the tournament, Osaka donned custom Nike outfits in jewel-toned shades, and when her longtime hairstylist Marty Harper<\/a> saw the looks, he was inspired.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are always merging showmanship and functionality,\u201d Harper says of the looks Osaka wore during the games. The two first met at a photoshoot, and have worked together for just over five years. \u201cNaomi can come off as very stoic or reserved at first,\u201d he reflects, \u201cbut once you get her to open up, you realize she\u2019s simply one of the most tremendous humans ever.\u201d<\/p>\n While the looks the duo created together for the French Open were \u201ccute,\u201d Harper shares that they wanted something a bit more serious for the U.S. tournament. It was a rose motif in the Nike looks that first got Harper\u2019s mind flowing. Then, an inspiration from a much less likely source: a visit to the legendary Parisian cabaret show, Crazy Horse. \u201cI was in Paris watching the Crazy Horse show, and there\u2019s a part in it where everybody was wearing glittering hair accessories. That\u2019s when I realized, \u2018We need the roses crystallized.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis look had a nod to Naomi’s Afro-Haitian roots with the curly hair texture, as well as a little bit of Harajuku as well,\u201d hairstylist Marty Harper says.<\/p>\n <\/span>Robert Prange\/Getty Images<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis was a really pretty look for Naomi,\u201d Harper says. \u201cI wanted the roses to be cascading through.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Susan Mullane\/ISI Photos\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n From there, things moved quickly. Harper\u2019s friend, fellow hairstylist Clayton Hawkins, suggested professional bedazzler Kerin Rose Gold<\/a> of A-Morir Studios for the job. They started with Gold 3-D printing the roses in a handful of different sizes before the perfect bouquet emerged. And then came the Labubus. Osaka delighted fans with an entourage of punny Labubus: Billie Jean Bling, Arthur Flashe, LaBillieBu, Althea Glitterson, and Andre Swaggassi, all in collaboration with A-Morir and in keeping with the Naomi Osaka school of style and attitude.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to create these ornate, crown-like beauty moments for Naomi,\u201d Harper says. \u201cAll I was thinking of was \u2018let Naomi come and get her roses.\u2019 Naomi has journeyed: she\u2019s a champion, she speaks for women, she speaks for mental health, she does it for mothers, as well as doing it for herself. She\u2019s opened the door for a lot of young women.\u201d<\/p>\n For the final look, Harper called upon braider Tiana Amani<\/a> to create the stitch braid cornrows. From there, he created different ponytail hair pieces that Osaka could wear for the walk-on, but easily remove when the game actually started. Each of the ponytails had a different texture\u2014loose and curly, long locs\u2014and were finished off with roses affixed to chopsticks.<\/p>\n