Yohji Yamamoto

[fashion.fashoff]

thanks for posting that article about his home... great space and architecture... and a rolls royce in his garage

 

[Koibito]

"SUPER YOHJI YAMAMOTO" by Leslie Kee

Leslie Kee‘s photo exhibition ‘SUPER YOHJI YAMAMOTO’ is currently being held at Yohji Yamamoto’s head store in Aoyama until September 25, celebrating the launch of Leslie’s new photo book, ’SUPER YOHJI YAMAMOTO’. The show consists of the photographer’s archives capturing famous artists and actors wearing Yohji Yamamoto’s menswear. It also features the photographs taken at the back stage of the brand’s runway show for spring/summer 2013. Yohji Yamamoto’s head store has previously held photo exhibitions of internationally acclaimed photographers, including Nick Knight and Peter Lindbergh, and of the designer’sown drawings. ‘SUPER YOHJI YAMAMOTO’ is the first show that focuses on the men around Yohji Yamamoto. In addition, Leslie’s photo book is available for purchase, as are the T-shirts and bags inspired by his book.

I would like to see more photos from this photobook.

fashionpost.jp, fb/luutriples

 

[softgrey]

thank you for explaining that runner!


and thanks for the images from the book and info on the exhibition koibito...

 

[runner]

you are welcome softgrey


the rolls royce is a two door convertible.
I think he still drives the same old rickety corniche.

 

[runner]

some more from tristan and isolde


yohji at dyeing dept,
washing, drying, and painting


my scans

 

[runner]

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[runner]

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[runner]

pina bausch in yohji

my scan

 

[softgrey]

she looks so natural and relaxed in that portrait...
i would have thought that wings might look a bit funny or even silly...
but they look perfectly natural there...

v. nice...

arigato runner!


*it's nice looking at the pics of yohji at work but all i can think about is what he wrote in his book about how much work it was for very little money and traveling back and forth was exhausting and maybe not really so worth it in the end...
i guess he's not the first creative person to feel this way about a project...
...

 

[Scott]

there's a documentary on pina in which she describes how dance should feel to her….which cuts to her floating around flapping her arms like a poetic dove….that could be a reference in that coat.

love pina love that she and yohji had such a close friendship. (i share her birthday too!!)

 

[Koibito]

This is a very inspirational video. The more i watch this, the more i feel worship him. I like to listen to his points of view about not only fashion, very inspirational.

 

[softgrey]

"fast fast fast, cheap cheap cheap, sexy sexy sexy...

this is very far from me..."

YY

 

[softgrey]

bof.com

Op-Ed | When Passion Was Everything

BY DEBRA SCHERER TUESDAY, 10 DECEMBER, 2013


Yohji Yamamoto and Irene Silvagni | Source: Mono No Aware

NEW YORK, United States — When Irene Silvagni arrived at French Vogue in the mid-1980s, she (along with Colombe Pringle) recognised a new wave of photographers, models and, of course, designers. She brought Peter Lindbergh, Paolo Roversi, Bruce Weber, Ellen Von Unwerth and a then unemployable Steven Meisel to the pages of Vogue, before they and their aesthetic were accepted by New York, London or Milan. And her support of new Japanese designers and a chance meeting with Yohji Yamamoto at a Comme des Garçons show led to one of the most beautiful and personal collaborations fashion has ever seen.
I was approached a few months ago by the team at Byronesque, a vintage e-commerce and editorial site, with some raw footage of Madame Silvagni recalling this collaboration and her role as creative director of Yohji Yamamoto during his most influential period. They had approached her about selling some of her original Yohji Yamamoto pieces and what was supposed to be a quick shoot became a full recounting of their collaboration.
At the time Silvagni recalls, in the mid-1980s and 1990s, I was working, first, as an assistant at American Vogue in New York and then, eventually, as a fashion editor at French Vogue in Paris and, as a result, had what you might call a front row seat to the whole thing. So after listening to the tapes, I said to the Byronesque team, “Ok, I think I can tell this story in a way that was more than just historical or nostalgic.”
It’s an excellent time to watch those old shows, to look at those clothes and think about them — think about how avant-garde both Yohji and Rei Kawakubo were when they began in 1981. As Madame Silvagni says in the film, “There were people fighting with fists outside after these shows.” It was still a time when passion was everything, when you didn’t just say “fab” and hurry off to the next show or store opening. Another thing that’s incredible to notice: there were no celebrities, everyone was actually watching the show, and looking at the clothes, with great intensity, sometimes with big smiles and always applause.
Look carefully and you will see the applause was not for Yohji the man, not for the cult of the celebrity designer, but rather, for the workmanship, the sensuality, the proportions, the way the fabric moved on the woman, the way each outfit was having a dialogue with the one that preceded it and the one the was to follow. There were no elaborate carrousels or millions of dollars worth of flowers or anything like that. The dresses, the hats, the suits, the girls, the way they walked, the way they floated, every outfit was like its own show. Every outfit, though they may have seemed simple, was a complicated sartorial expression. Yohji Yamamoto really understood a woman’s body, the proportional beauty and the ephemeral qualities that go along with that beauty.
I was lucky enough to be seated next to André Leon Talley at almost every show during that period and it was something I looked forward to as much as the show itself. We were inspired to reminisce about the days working together in New York, when we would wait for the haute couture gowns to arrive off of the Concorde, which landed at JFK around 5pm. Waiting and waiting for the trunks to arrive in the office as we pulled out masses and masses of yellow duchesse satin sent directly from the salon of Hubert de Givenchy. Ah, and I remembered his very Vogue way of teaching us about haute couture. He said, “You see, that is what makes couture couture, because when the fabric is like this you can just shake and wear.” This we remembered, all while waiting for the unbelievable yellow gown Yohji was about to send passed us.
Skip to the next season. I find my seat and, to my sadness and disappointment, André is nowhere to be found. I thought it was not possible he would miss this presentation, but the lights went down and they began the now infamous “wedding show.” And lo and behold, to my great delight, André was actually in the show, playing the groom.
Look at the clothes, look at the audience, just put down your phone for a minute (or 10 minutes) and really look. It’s emotional and inspiring, and a great reminder of how much has changed. The short film’s title, “Mono No Aware” refers to a Japanese literary concept that contains empathy towards the beauty of things as well as an awareness of the impermanence of these things and the gentle sadness that might evoke.
“Mono No Aware” will be presented next week in New York at Byronesque Offline, hosted by Michèle Lamy, Glenn O’Brien and Mazdak Rassi.
To watch “Mono No Aware” now, click here.

 

[Koibito]

“There were people fighting with fists outside after these shows.” It was still a time when passion was everything, when you didn’t just say “fab” and hurry off to the next show or store opening. Another thing that’s incredible to notice: there were no celebrities, everyone was actually watching the show, and looking at the clothes, with great intensity, sometimes with big smiles and always applause.[/B]
Look carefully and you will see the applause was not for Yohji the man, not for the cult of the celebrity designer, but rather, for the workmanship, the sensuality, the proportions, the way the fabric moved on the woman, the way each outfit was having a dialogue with the one that preceded it and the one the was to follow. There were no elaborate carrousels or millions of dollars worth of flowers or anything like that. The dresses, the hats, the suits, the girls, the way they walked, the way they floated, every outfit was like its own show. Every outfit, though they may have seemed simple, was a complicated sartorial expression. Yohji Yamamoto really understood a woman’s body, the proportional beauty and the ephemeral qualities that go along with that beauty.

The good old days

 

[softgrey]

found this interview from not so long ago...
wsj.com

20 Odd Questions for Yohji Yamamoto

The revolutionary designer says his love of women inspired him





Oct. 24, 2013 5:15 p.m. ET

MAKING SCENTS: Yohji Yamamoto; Koichi Inakoshi




YOU WOULD BE hard pressed to find a successful designer working today who doesn't acknowledge a debt—even indirectly—to Yohji Yamamoto.
The first collection he showed in Paris, in 1981, was a striking countercultural display of black, deconstructed, asymmetrical clothing influenced by the worker uniforms worn in his native Japan. A radical departure from the looks popular at the time, the designs were by and large dismissed by the fashion press. Mr. Yamamoto's work, alongside that of his peer (and one-time girlfriend) Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, was derided as "ragged chic."
Both designers have continued to challenge and heavily influence Western perceptions of beauty and style over the past 30 years with their antifashion approach to design. Just earlier this month, Mr. Yamamoto's creations were being cited as inspiration. "If there are two designers whose oeuvres are being looked at by many others this season, it is Yohji Yamamoto's and Issey Miyake's," Jo-Ann Furniss wrote in her review of Mr. Yamamoto's spring 2014 collection for Style.com. "And now Yamamoto is showing them how it is done in the present."
Enlarge Image

Yohji Yamamoto Femme eau de parfum Yohji Yamamoto




This month sees the designer revisiting some of his other greatest hits. Yohji Yamamoto Parfums is releasing six fragrances, five of which are remixes of the originals launched during the 1990s and early 2000s. (Mr. Yamamoto worked with long-time collaborator Olivier Pescheux to perfect the scents.) The sixth, Yohji Senses, is what Mr. Yamamoto describes as "a love story."
"It's very me," he says. "I like new creations."
I grew up after the second world war, the only son of a war widow. This pushed me to see society through my mother's eyes. I believe that seeing the world through a woman's eyes was my destiny and enabled me to do what I do.
I think I am the only male designer who really likes women. You disagree? Tell me the name of another.
I only noticed I was Japanese when I came to Paris for the first time in 1981. Before that I did not know what it was to be different.
I nearly became a lawyer but I decided I really wanted to help my mother with her dressmaking business. My mother reacted angrily when I told her. She said: "If you really want to help me, you must go to dressmaking school." And so I did.
Enlarge Image

Yohji Senses and Yohji Essential eau de toilettes Yohji Yamamoto




I always say I am a dressmaker, not a fashion designer. For a long time I sought a suitable title for myself and I ended up with the most simple description: I make dresses.
I say I hate fashion but in fact I have always been fascinated by the relationship between Japanese ritual and Western couture.
I most admire Madame Grès, Chanel, Vionnet, Schiaparelli for their technique—technique is, after all, international. But I admire Chanel because she experimented with almost everything, both with her clothes and her fragrances.
The most important thing for both women and men, in terms of dressing, is to look sexy. Color is an issue for me. I use a lot of black and often I forget to use color. And when I do use it, I have to use something strong—stronger than black even—and so I might use a white or a beautiful, fragile red.
I love women and I love the way clothes are both functional and beautiful on their bodies. This is what inspires me. But the clothes must work and, in the beginning at least, they took their inspiration from the kind of uniform of male dressing. The challenge is to make the clothing and the wearer beautiful.
I have never walked the main road in fashion. When I first showed in Paris, my clothes were in such radical contrast to everything else that was out there that my office elevator was broken by the stampede of buyers who came to look and buy post show.
My advice to anyone who wants to dress well is to copy what you love and in the end you will be yourself.
I hate shopping and I am very lazy in the way I dress. I have five pairs of exactly the same pants and shirts. I wear them always, but I do change my underwear daily! I have always been envious of women and the way they have so many options.
When I created my fragrances, I wanted to evoke the fragrances of Japan, which are weaker than in the West. Even the flowers smell more subtle.
A woman should smell gentle. It's kind of the smell of skin, fabric softener and shampoo.
I am not an expert on men's fragrances because I have never been in love with a man. This makes a big difference!
The favorite things in my life are spending time with my dog Rin, and English tea.
—Edited from an interview by Tina Gaudoin

 

[softgrey]

excerpt from "talking to myself"...

“For some reason, I am moved by the female form, as seen from the side, or diagonally from behind. Like a feeling of waiting to chase after and restrain something that passes by, or passes through. You could call it a feeling of “missing” something. A lingering scent is the same. A kind of feeling of longing for something. There is always an adoration for women in me which resembles the temptation I have for things that have passed me by. And so I can only see a woman as someone who passes by, a person who disappears. Therefore the “Back” is important to me. I think clothes should be made from the back, and not the front. The back supports the clothes, and so if it is not properly made, the front cannot exist.”

 

[softgrey]

yohji's version of a cowichan sweater...
just found this pic- no idea what season it's from...
margiela has done his version as well- inside out, for H&M
i didn't realize how pervasive it is...
funny how i was naturally drawn to it this season...
but maybe i've just been brainwashed without realizing it?!..
......


at least this is an eagle motif, which is also my fave...
i'm less crazy about the ones that have reindeers or bears on them...
http://www.styleforum.net/t/176245/lightbox/post/6019392/id/622945

 

[softgrey]

and- pic of cute japanese guy wearing what i think is the YY cowichan sweater?
from NHK arts program...he's a washi maker...
my pics

 

[softgrey]

hmmm...
now that i see them side by side- i can see by the arm pattern that it isn't the same design...
thought they are remarkably similar...

interesting that i am seeing cowichans everywhere now that they are on my radar...
...

 

[Koibito]

d@mn it! i want one!