Yamamoto at his poetic best

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jun 21, 2018

Are we due for a major league revival of Yohji Yamamoto? Whose show today looked three times as poetic as any other collection we have seen this season in Europe.

 
And, after nearly 100 shows so far between London, Milan and Paris, surely the most rock-'n'-roll credible collection by far was by Yohji, shown to jangling blues-rock guitars inside his Paris headquarters opposite the Pompidou Center.
 
His whole sense of multiple juxtapositions looks so beguiling; jumbling up deconstruction – from asymmetrically cut waistcoats to kimonos cut like lounge jackets to one shoulder overalls – with hyper enlarged racy postcards; French graffiti, Japanese lettering and smeared landscapes and flowers.

And talk about a great casting, including a gang of unshaven Japanese dudes who looked like defrocked Samurai waking up with a sake hang over and spoiling for a fight.
 
Acres of pages have been written about the meeting in fashion these past few years of athletic and active wear with couture. Indeed, many people believe it has largely run its course. Though, of course, the founder and true poet of this movement is Yamamoto, whose sense of drama, out-of-the-box cutting and record of inventing the whole idea of  incorporating photography and imagery into high fashion garments guarantees his place in the fashion canon.  

With the greatest of respect to Nicolas Ghesquière, Raf Simons, Jonathan Anderson, Virgil Abloh and Kim Jones, they might all consider skipping going to each other’s shows in this season’s current orgy of self congratulations and ask for an invite to a Yamamoto show. They would be bound to learn a lot more about great men’s fashion. Which is what this collection was.