Yohji Yamamoto

BORN

3 October 1943

NATIONALITY

Japanese

HISTORY

 

Yohji Yamamoto is a Japanese fashion designer, born in Tokyo in 1943. After graduating from the prestigious University of Keio and Bunka Fashion College (Bunkafukuso Gakuin), he launched his eponymous label in 1972 in Tokyo. The brand's women's ready-to-wear line, baptized Y's, was shown for the first time in 1977 at Tokyo Fashion Week, followed by the men's line two years later in 1979.

 The Japanese designer moved to Paris in 1981 and the following year, Yohji Yamamoto presented his first collection, a women's luxury ready-to-wear line named after his initials, Y's followed by Y's for Men. The Spring/Summer 1983 collection tore the bourgeois seams and aristocratic elegance of the Parisian chic. The collection was presented by guileless, straight-faced models dressed in loose torn clothes, reminiscent of refugee rags The press was outraged and spoke about "post-nuclear glamour instead.

Others, however, immediately recognized the historical influence and significance of the collection and preferred to use the term Hiroshima Chic qualifying the artist-designers impact as the protagonist of the destruction movement. In 1984, Yohji Yamamoto Menswear a ready-to-wear collection for men was unveiled. A year later, the label's first boutique, Aoyama Superposition, opened its doors in Japan, followed by London in 1986 and New York City in 1987. Trhoughout the 1990s, the designer collaborated on many creative projects, creating costumes for Madame Butterfly at the Opéra de Lyons, as well as those for Tristan et Isolde in Bayreuth in 1993 and those for Life by Ryuichi Sakamoto in 1999. He also designed the costumes for Takeshi Kitano's movies. In 1996, the designer launched his first perfume, Yohji.The designer's daughter, Limi Yamamoto, signed in 1999 a ready-to-wear collection under her father's label. She called the collection Y's Bis Limi, then re-launched in 2002 under the name Limi Feu. Meanwhile, in partnership with Adidas, Yohji Yamamoto created Y-3 in which visionary couture and sportswear are fused into one. In 2007, Yohji Yamamoto teamed up with Mandarina Duck for Y's Mandarina, , a collection of hybrid designs in luggage and handbags. In 2008, the designer launched the Yohji Yamamoto Fund For Peace and opened a brand new boutique at 4, rue Cambon in Paris. The same year, the house made their first online broadcast, ComingSoon.

http://www.yohjiyamamoto.co.jp/