Yohji Yamamoto Mens SS10

[Fade to Black]

the styling of that get-up is spot on...i think that dude has come up with the best idea of how to incorporate the pyjama pieces actually beyond the apartment lobby doors...

[tricotineacetat]

It's sad witnessing how Yohji's house is slowly but continuously folding down... it's been a process that is already for a while on the way, first with the closure of the Paris branch several years ago (the permanent staff dealing with the European market and press sized down to just a hand full of people and commercial surveillance is now being operated by an outside, Italy-based agent), and now with the discontinued Y's for men line.

I've worked with the men's for a while now on the retail floor and I must say it never managed to attract a younger customer, yet didn't convince an existing, elder clients to keep buying. It only makes the situation worse when the product gets consistantly more expensive and you can see less of the designer's signature in the pieces from season to season!

[Fade to Black]

I've never really managed to get a glimpse of how street level feedback to the mens has been outside of Tokyo and the Internets...he has seemed to me the type who has a lot of respect among all levels of wearers, although few to actually adopt into the core of their daily wardrobe which is where the problem would lie...not counting Y-3, as I am not sure how proportionate that is to his own corporation, unlike CdG with its endless Play and t-shirt, shirt and one-off ventures with younger establishments. In Japan I have noted the buying clientele to be usually of the older age range as well, even though have come across many younger people coming in and showing interest to browse.

The line of thought that YY labels are priced out of the younger buying public isn't one I'd hold so valid for Japan...there, the retail prices are in general on par with many of the better known local labels garnering attention, so perhaps it might be a thing similar to current Miyake that they generally have a reputation of being "old people/unhip" clothing that keeps more people from buying. A shame, because many of the sales staff I've come across who are decked out in his clothes look quite elegant and cool in them, I find his clothes to be very democratic in the wearability aspect. Certainly more so than say, Junya or Rei from recent...

[tricotineacetat]

I can't tell about the japanese market as I have very little insight on how the collection is distributed and marketed there (I trust the goods are less expensive since most of the manufacturing is anyway in Japan and thus, they don't have to keep import/transport fees in mind in their mark-ups), but it got expensive to a degree in Europe where very few customers followed.

I definitely know that the Y's design team was exchanged numerous times when they decided not to have runway presentations in Paris. Until then, Koji Nagano (who was Yohji's right hand man for over 18 years) was head of design (does anyone recall the women's FW'03 collection with those stunning shibori-dyed and macramé pieces? This was probably one of the strongest, most memorable collections for Y's).

[Johnny]

why did it get so expensive? it's can't just be the yen/euro etc exchange rate. cdg have to deal with this, as do many others of course, but there doesn't seem to have been a corresponding astronimicalness to their rises.

[Faust]

I think it is true that by and large the young generation is aloof to Yohji. But I think that's kind of natural - his clothes are so grown up. One of my colleagues said that he once showed The Notebook on Cities and Clothes in his class at Parsons and students told him basically that they are not interested and Yohji is not cool

And yes, the prices aren't helping. $2.5k for a blazer is nuts.

[tricotineacetat]

The yen/euro exchange rate was just one factor that added to the significantly higher wholesale prices (that eventually made his oversea customers cut their orders down to tiny amounts). You naturally have to calculate with a higher margin once you have an outside company running distribution, accounting and warehousing of the whole business, as well as the fact that Yohji famously made his mainline studio travel with him to Paris whenever he chose to visit his family there.

I firmly believe in the fact that they should have hired more staff for the production department so they could have sourced for ways to make the product more accessible, without having to compromise as strongly on the quality of the fabric and finishing as they eventually did for Y's... it's beyond my understanding how some of his untreated denim (a staple for his loyal customers for long) needed to cost more than 600€ in store in the last few seasons... at that point the prices became on-par with the mainline, thus accidently making the two lines competitors on the market.

[sargon97]

While I have never owned any mainline I have a few Y's pieces. Over the last few years I have seen a lot of variation in quality and sizing, while the prices keep getting higher (e.g. $850 retail for pants). Also, and this may just be a Yamamoto thing, the sizing is really weird. A lot of collections seem to make it almost fully intact to end of season sales.

[Buckwheat]

wow...! who's that guy/photo?

He's a movie director. This is from a magazine interview so just styling for the shot.

The retail prices are so high that even the shop owner wonder who is going to buy. Like mentioned, people who buy YY are mostly the older group. Not like the younger market which they spend like there's no future. His Y-3 line is not enough to offset that I am afraid...

[Chant]

Pictures from the showroom, during the FW SS10. Forgot to post them before.
Styling : Fuuma/Christian; photography : Fuuma.

[Chant]

[CommieRabbit]

I find this beautiful

Thank you for the pictures.

[TarHeart]

Thank you a lot Christian. That is great, everything looks good on you. Although the collection is pretty basic, and not very exciting, it still looks good. I like it very much.

Really nice to have alternative pictures of the collection. The original lookbook was pretty flat and boring. Great job, thanks a lot.

[Fade to Black]

nice chant

the last outfit in full is classic yohji.

[Avantster]

Pictures from the showroom, during the FW SS10. Forgot to post them before.
Styling : Fuuma/Christian; photography : Fuuma.

How could you forget to post these Christian! These are vastly better than the original showroom pictures.

What did you think of the clothes themselves?