Women’s portraits made such a strong, recurring statement in Yohji Yamamoto’s new men’s collection that he was obviously trying to make a point. “I wanted to say women are terrible, scary,” he declared, right after being introduced to basketball player James Harden. Yamamoto doesn’t say much in these circumstances, and when he does, it’s never clear whether he’s being provocative or sharing an unfiltered glimpse of his soul. A member of his team later relayed that the collection was about Buddhism and reincarnation. But Yamamoto often treats his go-to black gabardine like a seasonal chalkboard, so it’s easy enough to let this latest round of reflective, daring clothing speak for itself.
It did, literally, with different manners of writing: as bands like printed tape across shirts and down sloped-shoulder jackets; and as graffiti in burnout velvet. In English and Japanese, they expressed wry conviction (“Too old to die,” “I’m gifted”) and vulnerability (“I don’t just want any soft touch”). “Don’t be body-shoming” (sic) was a personal favorite—one wonders if the team intentionally left this unchanged. The wild scribbling on two linen looks excited the eye: Was it erratic Japanese calligraphy or something more in the tone of Twombly?
Regarding how he realizes such seemingly conceptual pieces, Yamamoto articulated himself rationally. “Men need a shirt, jacket, and pants, but there are many things to do. We need to put air between the fabric and the body—how big or how tight, how long or short.” Doesn’t this explain almost everything without killing the mystique? And yet, he offered more, mentioning his fascination with twentysomething guys who borrow clothes from girls, and vice versa—a fascinating observation from someone who pioneered an androgynous approach. That cohort might find themselves laying equal claim to the shroud dresses and robes bearing ghostly self-portraits by the artist Suzume Uchida. Likewise, the opening grouping of leather jackets printed on the back with larger-than-life depictions of actress Eiko Koike (visible on certain T-shirts). Was she scary? To these eyes, more like sentimental, not to mention Instagram-friendly. In the end, decorative deity brooches did directly address a Buddhist aspect, although this was superficial relative to Yamamoto’s take on fashion today: “New winds are blowing.”
