Yoko Ono Unveils Menswear Line Inspired By John Lennon’s ‘Very Sexy Body’

Yoko Ono may not be especially known for her take on men’s fashion, but she’s turning that around now with a line of menswear for Opening Ceremony titled “Fashions For Men: 1969-2002,” that she designed for her late husband John Lennon.

The collection, launched on Tuesday, was originally conceived as sketches Ono gave to Lennon as a wedding present in 1969. “I was inspired to create ‘Fashions for Men,’ amazed at how my man was looking so great. I felt it was a pity if we could not make clothes emphasizing his very sexy bod,” Ono said in a statement. “So, I made this whole series with love for his hot bod and gave it to him as a wedding present. You can imagine how he went wild and fell in love with me even more.”

The whimsical collection includes a series of garments likely to be worn only by the most daring of men: It includes mesh cutout long-sleeve tops in black and fluorescent pink, trousers emblazoned with handprints over the crotches and others with circular mesh cutouts in the back, and even a $250 “lightbulb bra.”

“I think she just fell in love with John’s body and wanted to show off all of the parts of his body that she loved,” said Humberto Leon, who co-founded Opening Ceremony and is now creative director. “There’s something so beautiful about that sentiment. And we’ve realized these designs in pretty actual terms of how she drew them.”

"As huge, longtime fans of Yoko's art, we have great respect for her artistic vision, aesthetics and intellect," he added.

Although the flamboyant sketches initially seemed unlikely to see the light of day 43 years after their creation, the collaboration fell into place when Ono met Leon at a kickoff party for the label’s flagship store in Tokyo in 2009.

“We really hit it off,” said Leon. “We loved the idea of sort of celebrating the holidays with Yoko with this collection.”

The original sketches are described by Women’s Wear Daily as “childlike in their simplicity and humorous in their matter-of-fact approach to how men should dress.” But with an extremely limited run – the company has only produced 52 pieces of each design – Ono shouldn’t have a hard time finding buyers.