Two ideas, incongruent but both from the core of Yohji Yamamoto’s aesthetic canon, composed the calm and raw lyricism of his fall collection. Dissonant beauty was conveyed at a predictable yet poetic down tempo. It was classic Yamamoto.
Yamamoto said backstage that his first thought was “one very simple outfit,” beginning from a single piece of fabric draped into robes that referenced ancient Oriental, Roman and Greek wardrobes, but most of all the designer’s own work. The look progressed from plain shirts with drooped kimono sleeves or long tails over cigarette pants to substantial robes in black lined with bright red, and earthy blankets with fringe trim. They captured elegance, austerity and serene comfort tinged with melancholy.
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In contrasting construction but similar spirit came rough, contraptionlike skirts made from Perspex covered in silver leather for a metal effect. These were suspended from the body and were haphazardly covered in fabric. The first of this series looked like a wearable weather-beaten umbrella, while others brought to mind scaffolding. “When I look out around the city street, the under-construction building is always beautiful,” explained Yamamoto.
Before the show, Yamamoto’s longtime associate Irene Silvagni made a point of his being an artiste at work, his fertile creativity poured into the elaborate deconstruction zones. But there was also much in the way of merchandise: ribbed-knit dresses, a velvet shirt with a cutaway tail and matching cropped pants, any number of the wrapped toppers. The artist knows commerce, too.