In 2018, Rei Kawakubo's Spring/Summer show was ablaze with disco music and coloured lights. Models wore long blazers or jackets paired with with baggy-basketball-style-shorts and chunky sneakers. The blazers and jackets each had their own unique element: from sequins to psychedelic flower prints. The highlight of this show (titled “What’s on the inside matters) were surreal jackets worn inside out. This jacket’s reversibility means that it can be worn its more sombre and traditional black appearance, or with colourful and playful brocade facing outwards. This jacket subverts the austerity of the tailoring codes for formal menswear and celebrates motifs usually found on women’s wear including floral prints, brocade and corsetry. This jacket was part of the over 200 piece collection of designer jackets belonging to David Tan, a professor of law at the National University of Singapore and a fine art fashion photographer. Tan started his collection in around 2005, and it has grown to include star pieces such as Gucci’s crystal cobra grosgrain Signoria tuxedo jacket made for Roger Federer’s 2017 Met Gala appearance, and iconic looks from the final collections of Alexander McQueen and Virgil Abloh. This jacket was used in his 'Objects of Desire' photo editorial, which features a coveted object of fashion juxtaposed against the nude human form – posing the question of which exactly is the object of desire.
