Yamamoto’s designs recall Japanese drawing techniques.
His technique consists of wide cuts, exotic and luxurious materials and elaborate handicrafts. The designer endeavors to make his clothes from the back and not from the front.
Yamamoto combines traditional clothing, including masculine Japanese workwear, with contemporary sportswear to generate post-modern streetwear chic. In the 1990s, for example, he presented trench coats and shirts inspired by kimonos. Among his inspirations are the photographs by August Sander from the 1920s and 1930s. His women’s collections are considered simple and androgynous, even considered ‘men’s fashion for women’. Instead of high heels, his models usually wear flat shoes and simple make-up.
Yōji Yamamoto
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Yōji Yamamoto
Video
Yohji Yamamoto Femme – Women’s flagship collection presented at Paris Fashion Week (launched 1981)
Yohji Yamamoto Homme – men’s flagship collection presented at Paris Fashion Week (launched 1984)
Y’s – secondary line for women in the upper price segment (launched in 1972 as Yamamoto’s first collection) including the Y’s exclusive business line
by Y’s – Extensions of the Y’s women’s line in collaboration with Yamamoto designers such as Rismat (knitwear), Michiko (clothes by Michiko Suzuki), Kayo Nakamura (sports shoes and bags) or Takeshi Kosaka (Y’s Pink Label)
Yohji Yamamoto +noir – women’s collection in the basic color black in the upper price segment, since 1995
