Dress

Yamamoto showed this playful apron in wool crepe in the spring/summer 2001 collection: an enlarged coin purse fronts the skirt, complete with metal kiss lock. The collection evolved from slouchy, masculine suits into softer, languorous silhouettes, which married function and design, by evolving into different constructions of bags attached to or as part of the silhouette. Yamamoto hereby ironically evaded the all-consuming need for It-Bags, which were a new way of design houses to sustain themselves in the new luxury fashion system at the turn of the millennium.

He also connects the idea of women’s bodies as commodities in Western culture (and fashion) through the metaphor of the bag and the bag lady: this woman’s purse opens at the middle of the body and acts like a chastity belt, to be opened with coins.