After pumping up the volume with enormous, kulatlike shapes last season, Yohji Yamamoto scaled down for Fall. The jackets, shirts, and trousers he showed in his new collection were more traditional than some of his more outré experiments in form. Instead of exploring an extreme, he favored breadth of choice. The show was an homage to the coat. There were manifold versions on display, some quite desirable, from militaristic styles to the history-referencing morning coats Yamamoto has made a signature over the years to others growing shaggy fur at the elbows and hoods. The best in show were tagged with squiggly, sunburst "Y" patches—given the master's seal of approval, as it were. These were the ones that made a fetish of, for lack of a better word, their very coatiness: They had double lapels where one set would do, or extra rows of shiny gold buttons snaking here and there. The variations on the outerwear theme eventually spun it out to its most basic but evolved extreme. The show opened with shawls wound around suits. It closed with arms and the man: a series of wraparound blankets with sleeves.
