Yohji Yamamoto Tries to Balance His Checks
By Godfrey Deeny
(Photo by Gruber-FWD)
PARIS, Jan 21, 2003/ FWD/ --- Though the invitation to see Yohji Yamamoto's signature collection in Paris Sunday night did not indicate whether the collection was ready-to-wear or haute couture, one glimpse of the clothes said this show was unquestionably the latter.
Just as Yamamoto has begun to cater to a mass audience in his Y-3 alliance with Adidas,
the designer's top line has gone in the opposite direction and looks, increasingly, like
a collection designed for a patrician, albeit hip, elite.
The highborn atmosphere was further heightened by the presence of the loftiest of grand dames,
Deeda Blair, in town collaborating with the New York Times on an article for the paper's
magazine section.
It's ironic that it is Yamamoto, once the darling of avant-garde, who now opens the Paris
haute couture season with his signature collection.
Yohji's invite came in black and white, just like the opening outfits in this show, all of
them in houndstooth check in varying dimensions.
After a dozen such looks, the name Gianfranco Ferre was whispered about the audience in
the artfully disheveled exhibition space were the show was staged.
Houndstooth is Ferre's favorite material, especially during his tenure as couturier of
Christian Dior.
But not even Gianfranco placed it on rubber soled boots, berets and leggings, as Yamamoto
did Sunday evening.
There was plenty of evidence of what a master of construction Yamamoto is, with his open-cut
shoulder swinging jackets, frayed frock coats and raised-waist pants cut off just below the
knee.
His use of pre-Raphaelite prints as silk leggings and neat tops was beautiful and will be
influential.
Yet we were halfway into the collection before model Audrey Marney appeared in a "classic"
Yohji black outfit with sleeves that ballooned at the wrist, a look that had buyers pens scratching.
The designer's sense of humor was also evident in a foursome of mad Scotswomen covered from head to toe in multiple versions of red and black plaid. They were droll, but did not provoke much ink from department store executives. After these Celts came the Venetian noblewomen, as Yamamoto experimented with some extravaganza layered looks in Fortuny-like plisse fabrics, once again in houndstooth, bringing to a close this perplexing show.
Asked about his check obsession, Yohji, in between puffs of his cigarette, replied: "The fabric is so usual, so normal, even stereotypical. The idea of using it intrigued me. Besides, I had never used it before."
|
