SS02 Yohji Yamamoto Pour Homme Saeko Tsuemura Pin Up Sheer Jacket

Yohji Yamamoto’s Spring 2002 collection is widely regarded as a prestigious hallmark of the Japanese designer’s career. Setting his focus on an era of Western society in which illustrated sex symbols known as ‘pin-up’ girls plagued newspapers, post cards, lithographs and calendars, Yamamoto brings forth a momento of the past to adorn his masterful collection. Put best by historian Maria Elena Buszek, "To understand both the complicated identity and the subversive nature of the 19th-century actress, one must also understand that the era's views on women's potential were inextricably tied to their sexuality, which in turn was tied to their level of visibility in the public sphere: regardless of race, class or background, it was generally assumed that the more public the woman, the more 'public,' or available, her sexuality."

Giving way to the revolution of pin-up girls, which were displayed on just about every printed medium, the burlesque rooted imagery would soon become a continental phenomenon. Sold for both commercial and personal use, these depictions became instrumental to marketing techniques of the 1950s and played a major role in boosting morale for American soldiers. Taking on a new light under the Eastern creative’s reign, these garments tell a story of not only the evolution of feminine beauty, but empowerment and societal advance.