Who is Yohji Yamamoto?

Yohji Yamamoto, at 80 years old, is more punk than you will ever be. Always dressed entirely in black, with ever-greying shoulder length hair, and chain-smoking, he is characteristically reserved, unconcerned with trends and the pageantry associated with modern fashion. He is one of the few designers/brands that brings truth to the theory of ageing gracefully.

Yohji-san grew up poor in Tokyo. As a student, he completed and abandoned a highly considered law degree, pursuing a technical fashion course at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo in order to help his mother in dress making. This education in his early years would be the foundation for Yamamoto’s reputation as a master tailor, being an expert craftsman at the technical construction of garments from scratch; whereas the majority of fashion ‘designers’ are more adept at the conceptual, ideation side of fashion, and would then outsource the construction to factories, in-house cutters, and pattern makers to bring the vision to life. The mastery of this side of the craft is what set Yohji-san apart, even from other designers of his era. 

Early in his career, Yamamoto had a close relationship with another legendary Japanese designer in Rei Kawakubo; a design icon in her own right and founder of famed label Comme Des Garcon as well as the incredibly successful retail concept Dover Street Market. The pair moved to Paris at similar times, both first showing in Paris in the 1980s. Initially shunned by the likes of WWD and other popular magazines, their fresh point of view eventually saw the pair spearheading a cultural shift in global fashion away from the gaudy excess of the 70s and 80s, toward the avant-garde.

Yohji-san’s style is characterised by its elite level of craftsmanship, hand-cutting, and asymmetry. He famously also designs often without colour in mostly black and white. His rare use of colour is always extremely measured and deliberate, with a philosophy that the colours he uses “have to be as strong as black."

Yamamoto has lived his entire career at the vanguard of his field, constantly evolving and challenging the convention. A self professed ‘punk’ at heart who’s MO is to do what everyone else isn’t. Now considered a staple in fashion, Yohji-san was one of the first to combine sports and athletic wear with high-end fashion and design. In 2003, Yamamoto was becoming disillusioned with the relationship from the clothes on the runway to the culture of what was going on in the streets. It also happened to be around the same time as a movement was starting to develop around sneakers. 

This is what prompted Yohji-san to begin developing his own sneakers and investigating existing brands in the space he could work with. The result was the first ever Y-3 collection in collaboration with adidas debuting in Paris in 2002. Twenty-two years later, adidas - Y-3 is one of the longest running collaborative partnerships in fashion. In a time where brand collabs pop-up every other week, and the craft behind them continues to get lazier, (Brand A stamps their logo on an existing shoe silhouette from brand B) Y-3 has consistently innovated. Producing original designs that carry the essence of adidas’ sportswear heritage but are produced with Yohji-san’s trademark austere, avant-garde aesthetic. 

The Y-3 brand also carries with it a strong connection to the world of football. Since the first collections Y-3, has referenced football specific products, from shirt sponsors on jerseys and colour blocking, to direct collaborations with the football world such as the Japanese Football Association, and more recently, work with Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid. Y-3’s football-related work continues to be some of the most interesting of the several fashion crossovers the sport has seen of late, and continues to push the boundaries in parallel with the ever expanding cultural conversation surrounding the game. And perfectly on brand for Yamamoto himself, who remains as punk as ever.