This PVC gilet is printed with the bold words "The King is Naked", which references Hans Christian Anderson's fable, “The emperor’s new clothes”. Rei Kawakubo, designer of the fashion label Comme de Garcon, used the fable in her 2017 Spring/Summer collection to comment on the ease by which information is obtained in the world today, perhaps to excess. This gilet 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 gilet 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.
