September 29, 2024 |
Framed by dimly lit chandeliers and oak floors, Paris’ Salons de l’Hotel De Ville set its sights on Yohji Yamamoto’s hodge-podge-ified vision for SS25. On the fringe of his 81st birthday, Yamamoto saw fragility and empowerment as vital concepts for this season’s manifesto. Emanating an unfinished jigsaw puzzle: garments were adorned with haphazardly cut geometric shapes, which flapped open like little windows and jutted out from precarious crevices. In iterations of (you guessed it) black, white and red, the Japanese designer played around with different layers and textures to achieve an eerily dreamy 43-piece collection.
Dresses were punctuated with knots and gauzy mesh, while unintelligible writing plastered itself on leggings. Accompanied by lace panels cascading downwards from slanted black hats – shrouding half of models’ faces – hair was swept to the side, and eyes were swiped with smoke.
Russian pianist Pavel Kolesnikov played along with the procession of the collection, performing a medley of Bach, Ravel, Gluck, and a cluster of Japanese compositions. His stripped back rendition – live on a Yamaha piano nonetheless – made the collection feel like something straight out of a Gothic novel.
For the finale, a group of models doused in vibrant, head-to-toe, red hues stayed stagnant on the runway until all were present before filing off to Kolesnikov’s sound-scaping, as he serenaded the audience, turning to Leonard Cohen for the outro. Playing a version of Cohen’s ‘You Want It Darker.’ Our response?: Yes Yohji, yes we do.
Photography courtesy of Yohji Yamamoto.
