Have you met Yohji Yamamoto? Because as soon as you do, you realise his menswear line is utterly, unequivocally him. Yamamoto is insanely stylish – a bit loose, a bit louche, definitely relaxed, intrinsically confident. It’s reflected in the clothes he designs for his man, which is a kind of international reflection of himself. Yohji V.2 could be an art dealer, or a curator. It’s very arty. But maybe he’s something different entirely, like an investment banker with a penchant for rumpled and crumpled layers and a love of a carrot-shaped trouser? We’d quite like to imagine that particular iteration is true, if only because it mans he’d better understand our own penchant for blowing our entire salary on Yohji’s duds. Alas, I think it may be a pipe dream. This was a Yohji show – meaning it looked like Yohji, wearing clothes that looked like Yohji. That idea of identity is so important in fashion. So few have their own. Indeed, plenty of designers wind up borrowing from Mr Yamamoto himself. We’d quite like to borrow the closing coat.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans
