Beach volleyball star Miwa Asao

Miwa Asao swaps beach volleyball gear for glamour of Paris fashion week

Thursday 15th January, 04:00 AM JST

TOKYO —

Pro beach volleyball star Miwa Asao, 22, showed off the dress she will make her Paris Fashion Week debut in, at a Tokyo hotel this week. World-renowned fashion designer Yumi Katsura, 76, spent half a year completing the dress worth approximately 5 million yen. Katsura said she was inspired by the passion of American actress-singer Liza Minnelli, and designed it in the image of a young bird cruising through the sky.

Asao expressed her concerns about modeling in the Spring-Summer 2009 event on Jan 27, but said she was happy to be chosen. She also said: “It’s a really beautiful dress. When I saw myself in it, and with the make-up done for me, I thought I looked like an adult.”

Katsura said: “I wanted someone with beautiful legs for the short dress, and tailored it to suit Asao’s great body.”

News reports

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 29 Total Comments Show All

bebert at 03:51 PM JST - 15th January

Yes, the legs and look are stunning, but as for the dress, let us at least hope real fur was used.
cleo at 04:33 PM JST - 15th January

let us at least hope real fur was used.

???

Why on earth would anyone hope that?

She looks like she went through a Star Trek transporter carrying a feather duster, and there was a mix-up.
justmeinto at 05:35 PM JST - 15th January

good one cleo (the feather duster I mean)
alphawolf at 07:54 PM JST - 15th January

I agree with Cleo, she is beautiful..
ThonTaddeo at 09:51 PM JST - 15th January

Herefornow and Razor, I agree completely! Let's see more photos like this one; who needs the beach volleyball gear?
temporaryVisa at 10:04 PM JST - 15th January

I've never seen her wearing so many clothes.
electric2004 at 11:50 PM JST - 15th January

"I thought I looked like an adult.”

At age of 22 she should be an adult, even by the Japanese standard of 20 years to adulthood.
cleo at 11:59 PM JST - 15th January

lectric -

It's probably a translation of otonappoku mieru, for which a better translation would be I thought I looked sophisticated or I thought I looked elegant, ie looking attractive but not in a cutesy way.

But that outsized feather duster looks neither sophisticated, elegant nor cutesy.
justmeinto at 04:42 AM JST - 16th January

On the other hand if you think of that big feather duster around her as a big mixture of chocolate and vanilla cotton candy, I wonder if there would be a lack of volunteers to start licking away.
onedragon at 01:01 PM JST - 16th January

Beautiful Bird!
electric2004 at 07:43 PM JST - 16th January

Cleo: thanks for the translation and information. This way I like even more what I see.
zaichik at 05:36 AM JST - 17th January

I agree with Cleo about the feather duster....
oberst at 11:50 PM JST - 17th January

she has a nice set of legs, not like the typical dikon ones. Lovely !!
WilliB at 08:45 AM JST - 20th January

5 million yen for that? I prefer the bikini. Who doesn´t?
loltehinterwebs at 03:21 PM JST - 28th January

moar!