Yohji Yamamoto went there again.
In recent seasons, he has been making allusions to potential succession plans – or worse – much to the dismay of his audience.
After Friday’s fall show, it came up in conversation about Katsushika Hokusai, the Edo-period ukiyo-e painter and printmaker whose works appeared on the last five exits, Yamamoto’s customary show conclusion in lieu of a traditional finale.
Yamamoto described the artist’s work as “very exciting, very surprising” because he kept painting and drawing right to the end of his life and his oeuvre left a significant imprint on European artists such as Claude Monet through the Japonisme movement.
“But his daughter was helping him,” he added with his trademark twinkle in the eye, well within earshot of daughter and fellow designer Limi Yamamoto.
Another parallel came to mind: the artist constantly sought to experiment and innovate even in his later years.
Yamamoto’s pursuit of newness is likewise a constant, with each collection a conversation between past and present, more often than not historical fashions of the West and the street.
Here, too, the veteran designer switched things up. The former remained, this time in a dialogue with the kimono that read like another take on his lifetime journey. Great swaths of fabrics – fluid silk crêpe, damask weaves, weightier linens – caught the eye with their motifs and textures, a reminder that Japan still has a vibrant weaving industry.
They wound around bias-cut tiered dresses, livened up the inside of a pared-back take on a carrick coat, added an obi-like flourish to the back of a leather-and-wool number. Even a punkish plaid felt grounded by its checkered companion from the East.
Scant a seam was visible, which made the tranquil pace of Yamamoto’s show all the more appreciable to suss out details like the martingale that was all that remained of a tailored piece turned into languid layers.
To an editor who asked about getting in and out of these winding, complex structures, the veteran designer suggested a showroom visit to try things on. It was a reminder that Yamamoto’s work is not about filiation, but about forms and fits for the here-and-now.
As Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations, “confine yourself to the present.”
It’s not always a great place to be – “too many wars, I don’t like it,” the designer remarked – but at least you’re in good company with Yamamoto.
