Yohji Yamamoto

Since the early ’80s, Yohji Yamamoto’s groundbreaking silhouettes and innovative design aesthetic have propelled him to the highest rank of the international avant-garde. Distinguished by his anti-fashion approach, Yamamoto changed the face of contemporary fashion, radically transforming it with asymmetrical and highly conceptual designs partly inspired by the techniques of traditional Japanese kimonos. His vision came as a refreshing contrast to the power suits and brightly clad fashions of the time, forcing a reconsideration of the future direction of fashion. In YAMAMOTO & YOHJI, this luxuriously bound book explores all the major themes in his forty years of counter-fashion design showing for the very first time his work not only on the Yamamoto brands but as well on his brand Y’s and these various collaborations in architecture, movies, plays, literature. Illustrated with photographs by Craig McDean, Inez & Vinoodh, Max Vadukul and Nick Knight, each chapter elaborates on a particular theme—his sartorial philosophy, influential extensions into scenography, runway shows, monographic exhibitions, and costume design—and is anchored by an essay or interview that lends crucial insight to the story of Yohji Yamamoto, one of the most enigmatic and iconoclastic fashion designers of our time.

This book offers a unique opportunity to discover Yamamoto's philosophy as a man as well as a fashion designer, illustrating points in his life by means of story, verse and his own sketches. It includes a philosophical essay, exploring the 'Japanese elements in Yohji Yamamoto'.

Yohji Yamamoto is one of fashion's continual innovators and this stunning book is a fascinating insight into his working approach and relationships with other creative practitioners. This comprehensive and groundbreaking volume includes an insightful interview with Yamamoto, as well as a roundtable discussion with some of his key collaborators, among them Nick Knight, Peter Saville, and Marc Ascoli. Photographer Max Vadukal, who has been working with Yamamoto for more than 25 years, is interviewed by Terry Jones, and long-time collaborator Masao Nihei contributes an essay on some of the wider influences on Yamamoto's designs and how they are presented. Beautifully illustrated using amazing photographs from the likes of Nick Knight and Paolo Roversi, selected from the Yohji Yamamoto archive, this will be an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in fashion and design. Praise for Yohji Yamamoto: "The deluxe tome, which features images from runway shows, advertisements and editorial photo shoots over the years, paints a compelling portrait of the reclusive designer, whose work is defined by his fascination with textiles." -LATimes.com, All the Rage blog "[Yohji Yamamoto] reflects not just the heart-stopping beauty of the clothes, as photographed by Yamomoto's longtime collaborators Nick Knight, Max Vadukul and Paolo Roversi, but also, in his own words, the designer's enigmatic stance. So we learn, almost poignantly, that from the beginning: 'I wanted to protect the clothing itself from fashion, and at the same time the woman's body from something, maybe from men's eyes or a cold wind.'" -NYTimes.com, The Moment blog

Since his first notorious Paris show in 1981, Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto has extended his influence year after year. He draws from fashion's past and creates the future. He is constructing a new approach to clothing in the post-industrial world, bringing together the best of both the East and the West.

Over the past 40 years, Japanese designers have led the way in aligning fashion with art and ideology, as well as addressing identity and social politics through dress. They have demonstrated that both creative and commercial enterprise is possible in today's international fashion industry, and have refused to compromise their ideals, remaining autonomous and independent in their design, business affairs and distribution methods. The inspirational Miyake, Yamamoto and Kawakubo have gained worldwide respect and admiration and have influenced a generation of designers and artists alike. Based on twelve years of research, this book provides a richly detailed and uniquely comprehensive view of the work of these three key designers. It outlines their major contributions and the subsequent impact that their work has had upon the next generation of fashion and textile designers around the world. Designers discussed include: Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, Naoki Takizawa, Dai Fujiwara, Junya Watanabe, Tao Kurihara, Jun Takahashi, Yoshiki Hishinuma, Junichi Arai, Reiko Sudo & the Nuno Corporation, Makiko Minagawa, Hiroshi Matsushita, Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Walter Beirendonck, Dirk Bikkembergs, Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan and Helmut Lang.

Prior to his thirty-year career in the first-ever academic Buddhist studies program in the United States, Geshe Sopa was the son of peasant farmers, a novice monk in a rural monastery, a virtuoso scholar monk at one of the prestigious central monasteries in Lhasa, and a survivor of the Tibetan uprising and perilous flight into exile in 1959. In Like a Waking Dream, Geshe Sopa frankly and observantly reflects on how his life in Tibet, a monastic life of yogic simplicity, shaped and prepared him for the unexpected. The account of his years in Tibet preserves, as well, valuable insight and details about a now-vanished era of Tibetan religious culture. His is a tale of an exemplary life dedicated to learning, spiritual cultivation, and the service of others from one of the greatest living masters of Tibetan Buddhism.

Yohji Yamamoto is a man who understands the power of endurance. The product of a Japanese culture ravaged by war, the progressive designer has built his 50-some year career on perseverance and a refusal to bend to the will of tradition. From his initial struggles as an emerging designer to his incendiary debut on the world stage, all the way through to the near collapse of his company in the wake of the global financial crisis, Yamamoto has overcome every obstacle in his path - and always on his own terms. Today, his eponymous brand offering both men's and women's clothing remains his most commercially successful venture alongside the popular sub-label Y's and youth line Ground Y to its' principal lines Pour Homme and Costume D'Homme. In 2018 the brand evolved yet again expanding into a line of perfume. His innovation has led to groundbreaking collaborations and pop culture moments, working alongside household names of fashion, reinventing icons Like Dr Martins whilst dressing icons of entertainment from Tina Turner to Elton John. Most particularly his trailblazing Y-3 range with street-sports giant Adidas, spurned a new wave of cross-genre collaborations paving the way for the now billion dollar athleisure industry. Raised by his mother, who worked as a dressmaker. Yamamoto found himself identifying more with the women of his life. His compassion for the opposite gender would eventually present itself through the construction of his couture. His collections are built primarily around the comfort and confidence clothing can provide for women, uninterested in presenting them as objects of male desire.

Examines the impact of punk on fashion, focusing on its do-it-yourself, rip-it-to-shreds ethos, the antithesis of couture.