Depending on the season, the masterful designs of Yohji Yamamoto provide varying doses of poetic and practical. Take today’s show, which came through with an impressive range of put-together looks for braving bad weather. Instead of ineffable silhouettes for rogues and rebels, there were puffed-up, multi-purpose interpretations of workwear for non-idealized men seeking to stay warm.
“This time I was just thinking about people who were walking in the rain or snow,” said Yamamoto, who always seems slightly amused by the questions he fields backstage.
A wardrobe of padded pieces could prove a boon in Paris given that 2024 shattered the previous annual record for rainfall (in 2000), and Yamamoto insisted that Tokyo qualified, too. But the main motivator for him was actually a rejection of what exists on the market. “They’re all made of polyester, and it looks so…,” he covered his mouth and whispered, ”cheap.” Continuing with his hand removed, he said, “so I wanted to make something special.”
He did this through material development as surfaces that were nubbly, brushed with a soft sheen, rustically woven, aged and ashen—none ordinarily waterproof yet somehow they were now. A silk-linen blend in light beige looked far too precious for pelting rain but this is also why many of the garments were fully reversible. At several junctures, models would remove their outwear, flip the piece inside out, swap it with another model and both would continue in their respective directions. The styles that dripped and draped with fine metal chains were a serious step-up from anything else out there.
Deconstructing comes second nature to Yamamoto whereas these garments must have exercised an entirely different muscle, particularly since he applied these constructions across both rural outdoorsy and sleeker city-suited silhouettes in black and white. He confirmed that none of this was easy but insisted that “down outfits should look elegant.”
Except that exaggerated padding results in stockier proportions, whether running widthwise or lengthwise, rendered as suiting or in sportier shapes. Stick legs became thick legs and some of the jacket panels appeared more foamy than airy. Yet this also had a leveling effect; no matter the body, everyone—including dancer Hugo Marchand, poet/artist Robert Montgomery, and photographer Mohammed Bourouissa—was carrying a bit more bulk. Luc Tuymans and his wife Carla Arocha made a runway cameo together in coordinating olive green and burgundy ensembles like elder sweethearts on a morning stroll.
As for poetry, “sadness and suffering are the flowers of life,” stretched across the back of one coat. Another boasted a line, source unknown, possibly too risqué to cite here. Tuymans also appeared in a look from a grouping printed with arty sketches and his shirt read, “I’m trying to create something that does not exist in the world.” Amidst the puffers, the essence of Yamamoto was revealed.
