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  • Ivwri
    Member
    • Jun 2011
    • 44

    I think that photo of Yohji signing on the board is a screen cap from Notebooks on Cities & Clothes? Was definitely one of the coolest things in the film.

    Originally posted by MetroBulotDodo View Post
    I was going to point out the same thing (wouldn't have mentioned that amazing annual sample sale except that it's invite only .)

    Indeed, it was filled principally with mostly (west) African men and a few straggler fashion students.

    My sense is that there is in fact a aesthetic coherence in Yohji's loose silhouettes and the silhouettes preferred by west African immigrants, particularly in Europe (less so in the US, if I am allowed to generalize.) Some of that overlap may have to do with functional reasons: the "healthier" body shape you tend to see amongst west African elites and a need for business clothing that can be "tropico-formal" in its use of silhouette and light wools.

    The anthropologist participant-observer in me couldn't help notice that the preferred pieces being purchased by the west African men (very few women!) tended to be full suits with more decorative details.

    I will probably lose my membership in the AAAs (Am. Anthr. Assoc.) for foregoing post, but whatever.

    MBD
    This is actually one of the first things that really intrigued me about and attracted me to Yohji's clothing. The idea that there were proper parallels between Japanese culture and that found in West Africa is an idea that has fascinated me for a while and the fact that one could infuse those sensibilities into European-style dress, both subverting the original form and expressing something unique to one's culture is really exciting.

    However, the actual living experience on the West coast of Africa has shown me that most people are not interested or even aware of this.

    Our traditional attire is indeed cut looser mainly, but most West Africans have embraced the typical slim silhouette pushed by European & I guess American fashion designers. Traditional outfits are either restricted to ceremonial use or redesigned to be slim-fitting for daily use in urban environments. My mother's people for instance tie voluminous wrappers in raw silk and cotton around their waists, but you will rarely find any man wearing this outside of a traidtional ceremony and these same people would widen their eyes at someone wearing a comparable outfit (let's say hakama pants and a shirt or a Yohji wrap skirt and a jacket).

    Anyone interested in fashion right now is wearing extremely fitted (or too small) suits, cropped pants and colorful socks. Most of this is inspired by the current trends in Brooklyn, NYC and some other places in the US pioneered by Black "neo-dandies". It's about colour, patterns and a sort of appropriation of what one could consider preppy outfits and pieces worn by predominantly white males. There's also the recent interest in using dutch wax prints to appropriate traditional objects for "African" use without any other design changes (for example the work of the NYC based Babatunde and his dutch-wax print baseball caps and umbrellas)

    Most Nigerians for example find the idea of wearing black a lot pretty weird and in some cases scary. Associating the colour with witchcraft and all sorts of demonic activity - something with a very strong impact here in a country where superstition is rife and even highly educated people still believe in the power of curses and juju affecting their health etc.

    I remember this one time I went into a gallery dressed as normal and the husband of the owner (a very highly regarded curator around here) began lamenting the lack of indigenous men's fashion designers that made clothes based on our traditional attire assuming I was a designer myself. I then started trying to explain to him some parallels between the cut of the Yohji pants I had on and that of some tribes in the country and he wouldn't listen to me .

    It is pretty unfortunate actually, but the majority of our cultural heritage has been obliterated from our memory and survives only as costume or appropriated tropes that we now believe were originally our own - see dutch wax prints also known as "ankara prints" being equated with "traditional" Nigerian/African attire.

    Most of our designers do not see the silhouettes and shapes that truly define different looks in our history or take inspiration from the little information we have regarding how our various people used to dress back in the day. If they did, they would see a lot to love in Yohji and early Comme and use the Japanese fashion movement as a great jumping off point for creating our own aesthetic.

    The main people who go for Yohji Yamamoto tend to be the Sapeurs of Congo (and any enterprising West African interested in selling to them) like I mentioned a while back in response to that post originally made by Faust.

    The Sapeurs and their entire manifesto are hinged directly on the acquisition and wearing of "high fashion" pieces and suits made by designers such as Yohji and Rei and Prada etc. The harder to find the better. The idea being that not only are they gentlemen living according to a code of conduct, but also a code of dress heavily informed by the tropes of fashion (particularly that pioneered in Paris). They have walk-offs and stand in particular ways to best show off the clothing they wear etc. Yohji particularly appeals to them not only because of the fact that he cuts a mean suit, but also because his clothing (particularly the runway clothing) stands out both in silhouette construction and details. I doubt any of them wear him because of parallels between his loose clothing and that worn traditionally by various West African cultures. I would even venture to say that these guys are trying to stay as far away as possible from what is considered traditional and re-invent themselves as Europeans even. There seems to be a bit of a backlash against this though, but I am not sure whether it has legs. YYPH cameo in the video at this link -

    Trusted and independent source of local, national and world news. In-depth analysis, business, sport, weather and more.


    Here's another set of videos showing a bunch of sapeurs comparing their Yohji wardrobes .

    To be fair, I doubt this video is very representative of the subculture, even if there are elements of peacocking and acquiring what someone else doesn't have, but yeah...


    (you can watch the whole video, but the real action begins at the point I marked)

    http://drigombaki.skyrock.comhttp://drigombaki.skyrock.comhttp://drigombaki.skyrock.comhttp://drigombaki.skyrock.com

    (this is a video response by another sapeur to the first one.)
    Tumblr

    Comment

    • surver
      Senior Member
      • Oct 2007
      • 638

      here's another shot of yohji @ ruichi sakamoto's christmas concert, 1999

      Comment

      • casem
        Senior Member
        • Sep 2006
        • 2590

        Thanks you so much, Ivwri, this is really fascinating.
        music

        Comment

        • Fade to Black
          Senior Member
          • Sep 2008
          • 5340

          this page saved my life.

          That scene in "Notebooks..." where he keeps signing it over and over and at one point he just had to give up and the last time he signed it was how it would be...i thought it was kinda cute at the time but years after I saw that and am a practicing artist now the memory of that scene really resonates with me.
          www.matthewhk.net

          let me show you a few thangs

          Comment

          • Faust
            kitsch killer
            • Sep 2006
            • 37852

            Yes, it can be endearing how for certain people everything has to be just so, even if the difference is so minute that it is invisible to others. I suppose it could also be incredibly irritating :-)
            Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

            StyleZeitgeist Magazine

            Comment

            • cowsareforeating
              Senior Member
              • Jan 2011
              • 1032

              so when did this come out?
              and thoughts?:

              Comment

              • lowrey
                ventiundici
                • Dec 2006
                • 8383

                Originally posted by casem83 View Post
                Thanks you so much, Ivwri, this is really fascinating.
                indeed, great read, thanks!
                "AVANT GUARDE HIGHEST FASHION. NOW NOW this is it people, these are the brands no one fucking knows and people are like WTF. they do everything by hand in their freaking secret basement and shit."

                STYLEZEITGEIST MAGAZINE | BLOG

                Comment

                • Stijn
                  Member
                  • Jun 2011
                  • 79

                  Originally posted by cowsareforeating View Post
                  so when did this come out?
                  and thoughts?:
                  http://www.yohjiyamamoto-cuttingage.de/
                  Looks really interesting..! Also in Berlin so I'm definately having a look. No idea how to get an invite though..


                  Program overview: "Cutting Age: Yohji Yamamoto"

                  Thursday, April 25 2013:

                  Audi presents "Cutting Age: Yohji Yamamoto"

                  Runway-Show, by invitation only



                  Saturday, April 27 2013:

                  “5 Cuts | A Visual Dialogue“, Video-Installation Premiere, by invitation only

                  Public:

                  28. April 2013, 12-18

                  29. April - 12. May 2013, 16-19

                  MADE

                  Alexanderstrasse 7 | 9th Floor 10178 Berlin



                  Sunday, April 28 2013:

                  ”Untitled Berlin (2013)”, Installation Matinée, by invitation only

                  Public:

                  25. April - 12. May 2013, 10-20

                  Andreas Murkudis Potsdamer Strasse 81E 10785 Berlin

                  Comment

                  • interest1
                    Senior Member
                    • Nov 2008
                    • 3351


                    SS08
                    .
                    sain't
                    .

                    Comment

                    • ittalidaa
                      Senior Member
                      • Aug 2009
                      • 313














                      Gestures at Fall–Winter 1997–1998, Yohji Yamamoto


                      SCANS BY ME: Gap Press Prêt-à-Porter Collections Volume 11
                      http://cotonblanc.tumblr.com http://lacollectionneuse.tumblr.com

                      Comment

                      • interest1
                        Senior Member
                        • Nov 2008
                        • 3351

                        heart on.


                        FW 2009
                        .
                        sain't
                        .

                        Comment

                        • interest1
                          Senior Member
                          • Nov 2008
                          • 3351


                          Filmmaker Wim Wenders,
                          who memorably captured Yamamoto in his own habitat
                          for the 1989 documentary Notebook on Cities and Clothes,
                          recently reconnected with the designer, now 69,
                          in Tokyo to discuss 10 years of Y-3, how he maintains his edge,
                          and why it's still best not to mess with him in a dark alley.



                          WW in conversation with YY in INTERVIEW Magazine


                          {{ It's excellent. }}

                          Last edited by interest1; 06-02-2013, 09:12 AM.
                          .
                          sain't
                          .

                          Comment

                          • surver
                            Senior Member
                            • Oct 2007
                            • 638

                            WT----???

                            Y’s by Yohji Yamamoto x adidas_Super Position



                            Comment

                            • pregnantbob
                              Senior Member
                              • May 2011
                              • 110

                              everybody be doing collabs with everyone.

                              Comment

                              • u-ti
                                Member
                                • Apr 2012
                                • 56

                                i was reading some posts of when this thread first started, which kind of reminded me of my early encounters with yohji garments.
                                i had a very simple yohji shirt back when i was still in high school. from then, i visited the shop now and then but couldn't manage to make myself so convinced with the fit, not that i could afford much then.
                                10 years from then, the looks and the fit of his clothes evolved to something i can feel at most ease when wearing, both in terms of comfort and style.

                                i wonder if many others have this experience, of course part of it must have been me just being young and building up my own style, and maybe its just the change of culture in the era.
                                but his clothes have given me a stronger feel of this building up process than other designers, and as yohji talks about personality and such in his clothes, this aspect draws me a strong interest.

                                Comment

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