By Miles Socha
When Yohji Yamamoto started his men’s collection in the Eighties, he was “against the standard business suit,” he explained backstage after his show.
For spring, he returned to the same impulse and that formative decade, yielding a strong collection rooted in loose, oversize layers and dovetailing with many of the emerging trends in Paris.
His languid duster coats had character to spare: many plain in meaty linens; others in black silk blotted with deep purple. Some were hand-painted with oblique slogans that proved Yamamoto doesn’t take himself so seriously.
“I am slump” was a joke, the designer said with a sly smile, noting that the men’s business is “booming.” And “Yohji is for hire” was not a plea for a new job. “He is for hire, for fire, for rent, for sale,” he said with a laugh.
Even if some of the clothes lacked obvious youth appeal, they felt current as Yamamoto patched his long shirts and shirt jackets with safari and military pockets. And all the pants were cropped and wide, just the ticket this season.
Unusual for a men’s show, and so very Eighties, the finale models removed their coats and came back for a second photo, showing off fancy printed linings and elaborate painted motifs. This got a smattering of applause, also a rarity these days.
