Yohji, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Looser Fit (Yohji Yamamoto Thread) - Page 4

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Only Yohji could make apocalyptic highland gear. It's one of my grail pieces and doesn't seem outlandish to me in the slightest when we wear outfits like this on a regular basis in Nigeria -



There's actually a lot that Yohji and some other Japanese designers create that are very similar to African and I guess, specifically Nigerian outfits.

Thanks and thanks . Couldn't resist after reading "My Dear Bomb" again.

Thanks for the links _yoo. Have never come across that website before. Edited the OP and added the two links.

Some close-ups from SS2012







Click for more: Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
The materials used in this collection vary from soft jersey to silks dyed in the traditional Japanese yuzen method.

The Victoria & Albert Museum has great videos on some of the processes involved in the production of quite a few of Yohji's garments but they are preventing embedding. You can see them all here - http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/y/processes-techniques/

As is pretty obvious from the clothes and styling on the runway, the concept behind the collection was a kind of East meets West fusion with hakama pants, kimono inspired prints and materials used for some pants and jackets and things like chaps and some of the jackets and sneakers representing both cultures.

What is really fascinating to me though, and a major part of why I am so excited by this collection is that the flowing pants and slits behind some of the shirts and jackets all evoke a kind of vulnerability that softens or obfuscates the masculinity of the wearer. A lot of the elements can be seen echoed in his Spring 2012 collection for women as well with a lot of synergy between the two collections. I wonder which one was completed first...

Yohji has never gone for the typical imagery associated with masculinity (other than to lampoon it or at the very least mock it endearingly - see tiger print boxer shorts worn on top of trousers in his Fall 2009 collection) - as far as I have seen anyway, but in this collection he pushed the silhouette of a man in a skirt, albeit without really making a full-on skirt or dress a la Rick Owens with his Spring 2012 designs.

This style of masculinity I would wager is pretty straightforward stuff for most Asian and African cultures, but pretty alien in the West (Togas and wrap skirts having been out of fashion for a long time) and I feel like Yohji is again trying to provide an entry point for the modern working man whose wardrobe still hews pretty closely to the standard model of the 2/3 piece suit (this is not the first time that Yohji is playing with men in skirts or typically feminine silhouettes and materials on men and I doubt it will be the last). Of course, one would not style themselves exactly as the models on the runway are styled when going to work, but there are definitely a lot of pieces here that I believe one could wear in a typical setting without coming off too 'extreme'. When I think about monks, priests, and ancient martial orders (samurai, aikido practitioners etc) in reference to these outfits, it matches precisely with the type of masculinity that I prefer. Flexible yet strong.

1969 has said it best I think. The example you give of a T-shirt and jeans shows that you might have very traditional notions of what is aesthetically pleasing to you. That's cool, but please keep in mind that Yohji Yamamoto is not a traditional designer. He didn't start out as such, and I doubt he will change any time soon. If you don't 'get' the aesthetic, then maybe it would be better if you ignored the thread altogether or changed your approach. It shouldn't be a case of coming here and asking that people should "convince" you of the superiority of Yohji's designs compared to more traditional and dare I say mundane offerings. Maybe if you started by looking at the references and design inspirations for the looks and outfits here exclusive of external comparisons to more traditional masculine outfits it would make a lot more sense down the road. No one looks at a Picasso and asks that it be proven he made better paintings than Leonardo Da Vinci...

I don't have any unfortunately. I am even struggling to remember where I grabbed it from