Yohji Yamamoto

Yohji Yamamoto

The Label

Yohji Yamamoto is the most playful of the highly respected Japanese design triumvirate that also includes Issey Miyake and Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo. Never conventionally sexy or trendy, Yamamoto appeals to clients who appreciate wit, romance, and the history of fashion; his clothes are full of allusions, and he’s as capable of dropping a reference to an Edwardian tea dress in a track suit. Although his palette is somber, he’s never funereal; there’s too much joie de vivre in the floppy, flowing, sensual fabrics to bring down the mood.

The Look

Sculptural, intriguing, often oversize. While black is far and away his predominant color, Yamamoto occasionally throw in zingers like the hot-pink-and-fuchsia coat dress tied with organza that opened his fall 2006 collection.

The Designer

Yamamoto was born in Tokyo in 1943 and studied law before attending the prestigious Bunkafukuso Gakuin design school. He presented his first womenswear collection in 1972 in Tokyo under the name Y’s, and he brought out a higher-priced signature label nine years later in Paris. He had several fragrances as part of his deal with Procter & Gamble. His partnership with Adidas, which started with the fall 2002 women’s collection, created the Y-3 label in 2003, one of the first and most successful of the designer-activewear marriages. In summer 2006, he signed a deal to design luggage and accessories for Italian luggage specialist Mandarina Duck, under the label Y’s Mandarina.

In addition to the admiration of his peers (Donna Karan wears Yamamoto), he’s has acquired numerous awards. He’s the only Japanese designer to receive France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres. Not only does Yamamoto dress a large chunk of the international arts community, he’s also collaborated on film projects with Wim Wenders, Takeshi Kitano, and Ryuichi Sakamoto, and done costumes for the Pina Bausch Company and Wagner’s Opera “Tristan and Isolde” in Bayreuth.

Official Website

yohjiyamamoto.co.jp