Photos of a Yohji Yamamoto lineup never capture the degree of details—printed words, artistic embellishment—that you will discover on the clothes up close. Only when poking around backstage after today’s show did the text “I hold you, you hold me” reveal itself on a loosely fitting shirt. The designer, too, usually doles out his thoughts judiciously, as though being forced to explain himself not only demystifies the process but goes against the interpretative aspect of what he creates.
Today, he reiterated his fear of an impending climate crisis, as well as his view that gender distinctions in menswear and womenswear have all but evaporated. These talking points manifested as ultra-relaxed ensembles, some bearing near-nonexistent landscapes. Masculine workwear jackets superimposed on suiting were interspersed with more ambiguous silhouettes, namely a dashing duo of full-length windbreakers in deep blue and yellow, worn like dresses. One of the two shirts styled overtop was marked up with the words mother f . . . well, you get the idea.
Compared with the humble raw cotton and signature black gabardine, a black velvet grouping introduced a certain grandeur—especially those pieces covered in pseudo-historical heraldic emblems. Yamamoto said he experimented with these purely because he wanted to—an aesthetic indulgence, essentially. In that vein, some pieces could have been spared the myriad zippered vents and excess bands. If nothing more, they were a reminder that he is not a minimalist.
Yamamoto’s approach seemed less conceptual this season, and his commentary was correspondingly direct. “The earth is going to be crazy, really crazy,” he said. “I’m afraid the earth is going to die.” Did he think he would see this in his lifetime? “No, maybe our children and grandchildren.” And yet this wasn’t necessarily an exercise in fatalism. The pair of hands on the side of a garment—were they signaling some sort of diplomatic handshake or a more affectionate clasp? “Both,” he replied.
