photo:
Yohji Yamamoto
Fall 1999
©firstVIEW 1999. |
 Yamamoto Yohji (1943- )
Born in Tokyo and a graduate of the prestigious Keio University
and Bunka Fashion College (Bunkafukuso Gakuin), Yamamoto is a
keen harmonica player and fan of Bob Dylan. In 1970, he began
designing women's clothing. Two years later, he set up his own
company, Y's and he showed his first collection in Tokyo in 1977. His 'pauperism'
style attracted a growing number of followers and he finally achieved
greater recognition after showing his spring/summer collection
in Paris in 1983.
Yamamoto's use of a simple palette - black, navy and white - with
occasional splashes of color and a style that is at once sophisticated
and plain-looking creates clothing for both men and women that
instantly become timeless classics.
"People of my generation were ripped off by economic success:
during our youth, the industry kept pumping out new products we
couldn't believe in, because we knew, come tomorrow, they would
be out of style. So we became the first generation to wear second-hand
clothes."
Yamamoto is the only Japanese fashion designer to have been awarded
the French Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres. He was the
winner of the Mainichi Fashion Grand Prize in 1986. Today, his
company earns more than a hundred million dollars a year and creates,
apart from his Y line of clothing, opera costumes and ballet sets for some of
the most important companies in the world. |
