Contents
Yohji Yamamoto
Changing modern fashion with oversized black silhouettes and unconventional tailoring.
Paris collection · Notebook on Cities and Clothes
- Born
- 3 October 1943
- Birthplace
- Tokyo, Japan
More people
Yohji Yamamoto
Yohji Yamamoto is a Japanese fashion designer whose loose forms and dark palettes challenged conventional ideas of fitted clothing. His work spans runway collections, costumes and collaborations with sportswear.
Early life
Learning from his mother
Grew up in Tokyo, where his mother ran a dressmaking business after his father died in the war.
Law to design
Graduated in law from Keio University before studying fashion at Bunka Fashion College.
Career
- 1970s
Building Y’s
Established his label and presented collections in Tokyo.
- 1981
Paris debut
Introduced his designs to Paris, helping shift international attention towards Japanese avant-garde fashion.
- 1990s
Stage and screen
Extended his tailoring into costumes for opera and film.
- 2000s onwards
Collaborations and continuity
Developed Y-3 with Adidas and continued designing after a financial restructuring of his company.
Selected work
Paris collection
Loose silhouettes and dark fabrics challenged prevailing fashion conventions.
Notebook on Cities and Clothes
Wim Wenders’s documentary explored his working methods.
Dolls costumes
Costumes for Takeshi Kitano’s film.
Y-3
A collaboration joining Yamamoto’s design language with Adidas sportswear.
Beyond the studio
Supporting exchange
Established a fund supporting emerging Chinese fashion talent and cultural exchange with Japan.
Beyond fashion
Has recorded music and made his own musical contributions to fashion presentations.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Museum or specialist research ↗Photo: Flick user Masaki-H. CC BY-SA 2.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
