To encapsulate the essence of Kill Bill: Volume 1 in a few words is an impossible exercise: Quentin Tarantino’s film is a visual, even before it is narrative, manifesto, a layered collage of quotations that traverse martial arts cinema, anime aesthetics, and Western pulp culture. More than telling, it is recognizable. And indeed, one image is enough to evoke it immediately: the yellow jumpsuit with black stripe worn by Uma Thurman as Beatrix Kiddo: a uniform that has become iconic, imprinted in the collective imagination as much as the Hattori HanzĹŤ katana. But completing that look was another key element, less flashy but just as identifiable: the Onitsuka Tiger.
A symbol of Japanese street culture and with a history that goes back to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1972 Munich Olympics, the brand’s sneakers have become a cross-reference between sports, film, and fashion-just think also of Bruce Lee in The Last Fight of Chen. A model that has never really ceased to exist, but today it returns in a new light thanks to the collaboration with Versace.
And this is where the circle comes full circle. Uma Thurman returns, at least symbolically, to the role that made her eternal, choosing precisely the collab between Versace and Onitsuka Tiger. The sneakers, presented on the Medusa fashion house’s Spring/Summer 2026 runway-the only one signed by Dario Vitale-reinterpret the Tai-Chi model with Italian materials and sophisticated workmanship. The double stitching on the iconic stripes, the Medusa logo embellished with studs on the tongue, and the vintage finish obtained by washing and polishing transform a shoe born for performance into an avowedly fashionable object, without losing its heritage.
In her latest look, however, Thurman chooses not to give in to direct quotation and replaces the yellow jumpsuit with an essential total white consisting of soft pants and a long-sleeved sweater, paired with a pink sweater slung over her shoulders and matching socks emerging from sneakers. And it confirms to us that certain imagery does not need to be faithfully reproduced to continue to exist but that just the right detail is enough to make a difference.
[📸 Courtesy of Versace; IPA]
