Yohji's in a Pimpin' Mood
By Godfrey Deeny
(Photo by Gruber-FWD)
PARIS, Jan 29, 2003/ FWD/ --- If anyone suggests designers are inspired by too limited a
choice of subjects, remind them of the great Yohji Yamamoto, whose male muse this season is
in the world’s second oldest profession -- pimping.
“To me the pimp has always represented the ideal sort of lifestyle,” joked Yamamoto,
a glass of champagne in one hand and a cigarette in the other, after his show Saturday
night in Paris.
Don’t mess with Yohji’s players. They sport four-finger knuckle-dusters in faux diamonds
bearing words like “Hell” and “Angel.”
When two hands met at the head of the catwalk they read “Yohji Pimp.”
Expect to pay about $1,000 when these natty accessories hit retail shelves this fall.
Stylish catwalkers -- a selection of actors, models and interesting-looking dudes --
wore high-collared, ankle-length leather coats and slim ties and trilby hats.
The looks were not all louche, though, as Yamamoto also showed patchwork workmen’s
jackets in intricate mixes of pinstripe, boiled wool and nylon, and weirdly wonderful
wool felt jackets with flowers.
Models came from both ends of the catwalk -- the signature collection from the left,
and the sportswear line Y’s from the right -- and frequently the two boasted the same
motifs: busty 19th-century women tattoos, wacky plants and comic book lettering.
The designer’s script signature adorns all his products.
Yet Yamamoto has always slightly scoffed at the concept of logos, and did so in this
collection by sticking the Y’s logo on the outside napes of coats and trouser ankles.
Since linking up with Adidas three years back Yohji has begun reaching a worldwide
audience of millions; a far larger market than the cluster of several hundred aesthetes
who habitually attend his hard-to-get-into shows.
This new reach is welcome, at the least because it means more men will wear Yamamoto’s
great clothes.
His boxy silhouette may be out of step with the current vogue in men’s fashion of
figure-hugging suits, but in terms of fabric innovation, humor and all-around inventiveness,
Yohji remains a master.
Yamamoto confided to FWD that he has given up playing in his rock ‘n’ roll band.
“I wasn’t happy with the standard of music we were attaining,” Yohji admitted with unusual
modesty for a designer.
But rest assured that, at least in fashion, Yohji’s standards keep rising.
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