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Wanting to appear invisible, Japanese ninja assassins used to don black cloaks at night, enabling them to disappear into the background. That was the inspiration behind a Japanese fashion designer’s latest creation, which was recently unveiled in Tokyo. Although perhaps Aya Tsukioka’s vending machine skirt is slightly less subtle.

The idea behind the brightly coloured garment is to allow its wearer to transform into a Coca-Cola vending machine, thereby putting a would be street attacker completely off their scent. The cunning disguise comprises a bright red skirt with flaps, which can be lifted up and over the head, fully concealing a woman beneath. Featuring Coca-Cola’s iconic red and white logo, as well as a coin slot, product dispensing area and a seemingly large selection of carbonated beverages, the camouflage has four sides, leaving the potential assailant in no doubt whatsoever that it resembles a fully operational vending machine.

Well, apart from its hand-sewn cloth construction, the wearer’s feet poking out from underneath and the creator’s own admission that a woman walking the streets who was being followed might have shaky hands, which could impede her vending machine transformation capabilities.

Despite these minor caveats, Tsukioka has sold 20 of the skirts at a price tag of £400 each and is hopeful that her design will appeal to fashionistas all over the world and help to ease fears about crime. It certainly is a way of skirting the issue.