Depending on the season, Yohji Yamamoto’s exquisite designs offer varying doses of the poetic and the practical. Take the Today show, which came up with an impressive range of bad weather looks to break up the bad weather. Instead of unflattering silhouettes for ruffians and rebels, there were multi-purpose interpretations of workwear for non-ideal men looking to stay warm.
“This time I was just thinking about the people who were walking in the rain or snow,” said Yamamoto, who always seems a little baffled by the questions he fields backstage.
A wardrobe of padded pieces could prove a boon in Paris, given that 2024 broke the previous annual record for rainfall (in 2000), and Yamamoto insisted Tokyo also qualified. But the main motivator for that was actually the rejection of existing on the market. “They’re all made of polyester, and it feels like…” She covered her mouth and whispered, “Cheap.” Removing his hand, he continued, “So I wanted to make something special.”
They did this through the development of materials that took the form of surfaces that were brushed with a soft sheen, rustically woven, aged and ashen – none typically waterproof yet somehow they were now. A silk-linen blend in light beige looked too precious for the rain, but that’s why many of the garments were completely reversible. In many junctions, models will remove their outerwear, turn the piece inside out, swap it with another model and both continue in their respective directions. The styles dripping and draped with fine metal chains were a serious step up from anything out there.
While deconstructing comes second nature to Yamamoto, these clothes might have exercised an entirely different muscle, especially since he implemented these constructions in black and white in both rural outdoors and sleeker city-situated silhouettes. She confirmed that none of this was easy, but insisted that “down outfits should look elegant.”
Except that exaggerated padding results in stockier proportions, whether running across the width or length, presented as suiting or in sportier shapes. Sticky legs became thick legs and some jacket panels appeared more foamy than airy. Yet it was a leveling effect; No matter the body, everyone — including dancer Hugo Marchand, poet/artist Robert Montgomery, and photographer Mohamed Bouroussa — was carrying a little more bulk. Luc Tuymans and his wife Carla Arocha made a runway cameo in coordinating olive green and burgundy ensembles like elder sweethearts on a morning stroll.
For the poem, “Sadness and sorrow are the flowers of life,” is spread across the back of a coat. Another resqué a line, source unknown, possibly even quoted here. Tuymans also appeared in a look from a group printed with Arty Sketch and his shirt reading, “I’m trying to create something that doesn’t exist in the world.” Amidst the puffers, Yamamoto’s essence was revealed.
