To witness a Yohji Yamamoto creation make its way down the runway is to wonder whether he arrived at it by accident or by deliberate design. Likewise the show itself, which today took place in the gloriously gilded gallery at City Hall, where the acoustics amplified the silence between what may or may not have been a live music performance. Turns out, Yamamoto supplied the recording, a one-man-jam that consisted of him singing “Come into the shadows.”
Backstage, he confirmed that the improvisational styling of the wrapped, knotted, and displaced looks that set the show’s tone was very much on purpose. “Each time you wear, it’s different,” he explained. The clothes were also different in that he wasn’t suffocating the models with an impenetrable concept. Gradually, however, he switched into a higher, historical gear; hoop skirts seemed like they’d survived a tornado, and excess fabric spilled out from the tops of corsets. The denim tubes assembled into a skirt were Yamamoto’s interpretation of an 18th century crinoline that he found in a rare book on European lingerie. Only someone capable of reading Yamamoto’s mind would have connected the dots between these exquisitely tattered looks, the makeshift parasols and the all-terrain Adidas sneaker boots to arrive at his stance on climate change. “Earth is angry, the summer is too hot and the rain becomes a storm. And in hot times, we need underwear in the streets,” he said.
Environmental message aside, the cumulative effect was a collection that skewed cool. This, Yamamoto declared, was also intentional: “My brand needs young customers.” At midnight, he will turn 72 years young, which likely explains the invitation boasting a photo of his aging hands. The girl who closed the show wearing a stiffly ruffled, roughed-up dress in fire engine red was equipped with a camera as part of a documentary being made about the designer. Yamamoto bearing all seems unimaginable: he communicates via rogue corset boning, randomly painted pantaloons and shapeless shrouds. But then this moment—a genuine resurgence—won’t last forever.
