Yohji Yamamoto: " I Hate Fashion "

[rive gauche]

and putting his name on perfume bottles or sneakers made in Bangladesh

[travolta]

Originally Posted by birdofparadise

What about the cultural trickle down effect attributed to high fashion, couldn't that at least be considered a mark of the devil otherwise known as a movement?

What I'm trying to figure out is if our lovely Yamamoto hates fashion because, culturally, there isn't a place for what he's trying to do anymore, especially considering the impact and possibility for future growth for Japanese designers may have been intensified and limited respectively due to the fact that they were lumped together. Could what's happened to the Antwerp Six (and what has happened anyway???) foretell Yamamoto's future?

Or is he just being self depricating like any Zen Buddhist?

i think the cultural trickle down from the japanese avant garde has given us deconstuction, design for comfort, and merging of high / low aesthetic (issey miyake's plantation line) pieces from that collection designed over twenty five years ago could be sold at urban outfitters today.

imho, i can't think of any of the antwerp avant garde introducing any real innovative ideas. if you disagree, please share. i think issey miyake, rei kawakubo and yohji yamamoto all were revolutinary in their own way.

issey miyake for his garments inspired by freedom of movement...complete unrestiction by the garment. he is the closest thing to an industrial designer. comme des garcons take on brand identity is a feat in itself. the fact that it is designed to move with fashion, completely unrestrained and fleeting is genius for companies trying to keep a consistent fanbase. it's also smart she built it concentrating on many facets, not just the clothes, as companies now are trying to branch out w/ a similar agenda. the guerilla store idea is so simple it's funny it has never been attempted before. yohji yamamoto's earthy aesthetics is highly influential. he is influenced by the flawed, the stained, the aged imperfection of all human beings, but his aesthetic is still accessible.


i think these designers aren't just being hip to what's modern. it is built into the way they view design. it's almost biological. i can't think of many fashion designers who think about the bigger picture while tackling the details so well. if you don't have good ideas what are you adding, really, and what is your staying power? how many different ways can you mutate a circle skirt before you realize to be relevant you have to abandon the needle and thread? sure there is this tradition and it's romantic and it should be done, but it definately ISN'T modern design.

i love how fashion is expressive and emotional, and very direct design. i dislike the hierachry though...the idea that 'good' clothing is determined by specific fabrics, and amount of labor which creates insane prices. how is such selective design good design?. i would say thinking of different ways to tackle this would be more interesting than another perfectly cut suit. innovation is a good business strategy. i think issey miyake understands this the most. i think the japanese ideas of the ephemeral and design without waste, the blurring of art and design has to play a part into their design strategies. it is what will make them here to stay. this is true for any other designer, japanese or not, who will think outside the box.

[Honey~Blade]

Personally I don't really think Yohji's stuff is too old or what not. His women's collections have always been great, imo. I wouldn't like to see him to something new in fact, I don't think it's his way of doing things. Every time I look at his collections I can instantly recognize that it was from his ideas. It'd just seem odd if I look at something "new" and then realize it was from him...
Simply put, I like his collections just the way their are. Hey maybe I'm stuck in the past heh.

[butbeautiful]

'I design for the woman who does not exist. The ideal woman.' - Yohji Yamamoto

[droogist]

Originally Posted by travolta

imho, i can't think of any of the antwerp avant garde introducing any real innovative ideas. if you disagree, please share. i think issey miyake, rei kawakubo and yohji yamamoto all were revolutinary in their own way.

Well, I disagree...I don't know how familar you are with Martin Margiela's work but much of his output for his first 10 years or so was revolutionary. He was a pioneer of conceptual fashion, deconstruction, and the use of recyclage. I think it's easy to overlook his influence because a lot of his ideas very quickly came to pervade not just fashion, but low-end streetwear (e.g. arm warmers/unattatched sleeves and skirts-from-jeans were in large part his baby). Plus in terms of creative output MMM have pretty much just been spinning their wheels for the last few years.... But the early Margiela stuff was untouchable.

This is getting pretty off-topic though. Perhaps it's the subject for another thread....that I'm too lazy to start....

[faust]

Originally Posted by droogist

Well, I disagree...I don't know how familar you are with Martin Margiela's work but much of his output for his first 10 years or so was revolutionary. He was a pioneer of conceptual fashion, deconstruction, and the use of recyclage. I think it's easy to overlook his influence because a lot of his ideas very quickly came to pervade not just fashion, but low-end streetwear (e.g. arm warmers/unattatched sleeves and skirts-from-jeans were in large part his baby). Plus in terms of creative output MMM have pretty much just been spinning their wheels for the last few years.... But the early Margiela stuff was untouchable.

This is getting pretty off-topic though. Perhaps it's the subject for another thread....that I'm too lazy to start....

WORD.

All of them really had something innovative and fresh. But it is a topis for the Antwerp Six thread we have. If travolta decides to revive it, may be we can enlighten her .

[travolta]

^ i think i probably came off a bit severe. i do respect a lot belgian designers such as dries , and margiela, but i'm not as familiar with their concepts and their clothing. i guess i can't relate to them as much as the japanese designers i've mentioned. but do enlighten me in the antwerp avant garde thread

[Casualuxury]

well it shows his stuff is repulsive

[Johnny]

Originally Posted by Casualuxury

well it shows his stuff is repulsive

What? What does? Who's stuff?

Apart from that, good post.

[helena]

johnny

[softgrey]

Originally Posted by droogist

Well, I disagree...I don't know how familar you are with Martin Margiela's work but much of his output for his first 10 years or so was revolutionary. He was a pioneer of conceptual fashion, deconstruction, and the use of recyclage. I think it's easy to overlook his influence because a lot of his ideas very quickly came to pervade not just fashion, but low-end streetwear (e.g. arm warmers/unattatched sleeves and skirts-from-jeans were in large part his baby). Plus in terms of creative output MMM have pretty much just been spinning their wheels for the last few years.... But the early Margiela stuff was untouchable.

This is getting pretty off-topic though. Perhaps it's the subject for another thread....that I'm too lazy to start....

hmmm...
yohji and rei were doing deconstruction at least a decade before margiela even started designing though...
so not exactly a pioneer...maybe more like a stagecoach driver exploring a new frontier that has already been 'discovered'...
although he did explore the aesthetic remarkably well....

**i really wasn't a fan of his recycled socks into tops...
some things just really don't NEED to be recycled...IMHO...

[droogist]

^ Yeah, I hesitated before putting deconstruction in there, because I thought someone might bring that up... To clarify, I think Margiel pioneered, er, reconstructive deconstruction, i.e. not just leaving things unfinished, but reforming or recombining them in unexpected ways. (I actually almost wrote "transformative deconstruction" in the original post, but decided against it, as I was afraid I would sound like a complete prat. But it's too late to be worrying about that now, isn't it. )

[VETE]

Originally Posted by rive gauche

If he hates fashion, he shouldn't be doing what's he doing NOW

Maybe he was getting carried away in the heat of the interview...maybe he didn't like the interviewer...or maybe he did liked the interviewer....or maybe he really does just feel overly hopeless at the moment...

[rui]

Originally Posted by faust

It's funny, you hail Yohji as a true master and then you ask him to water down and sell his image the way Rei has done? In other words, it seems like you want to take something higher and bring it down. Why? Yohji has achieved what many commercially successful designers out there only can dream of - he will go down in the history books as one of the most innovative and important designers in the history of fashion. From what I've read, Yohji is very Zen in his mentality, very secluded and peaceful. He is around 60. Why should he subscribe to your PR view of fashion, and waste his time and energy on growing into a commerical empire?

I would never want yohji to water down his creativity to meet mainstream. I wish he would find it again, what he had in the eightes by giving us something new again. CDG has and is consistent on surprising us, with many different levels. Yes of course yohji will go down in history books he is a master of fabric and innovator of shape and design. I know for a fact that the NYC shop and showroom was in danger of closing due to the lack of patrons shopping at the shop. Its also interesting to know that Yohji corporation does not support the new york shop. THE ONLY SHOWCASE OF HIS WORK IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE UNDER HIS OWN NAME. that is also a shock. You have to reinvent yourself constiently to keep everyone intersted...shows have been produced at the Yohji shop to generate press and no one showed up! they were pulling people off the street to fill the space...its just not working. Um an the price points only put the most elite into the game. Its a difficult time for high-end avant garde designers when most of the world just wants to wear jeans and t-shirts...
So I am just holding on to hope that he will come back into the forefront of fashion and bring back the energy of art in fashion but do it to compliment this modern time that we live in because it is in that way that it will work!

[Bidwell]

I believe Mr. Yamamoto deals with modern accessibility brilliantly through Y-3 and continues to be creative within the aesthetic parameters he created through his signature lines. The fact he's said he "hates" fashion is perfectly normal for someone whose worked so long in the industry. He obviously means the grueling pace, the expectations, the superficial attitudes, the tedious side. What he obviously loves is still intact- style, grace and poetry.