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Show Report

Show Report: Yohji Yamamoto A/W 16 Womenswear

by Lucy Norris on 4 March 2016

Lucy Norris reports on the Yohji Yamamoto A/W 16 Womenswear show.

Lucy Norris reports on the Yohji Yamamoto A/W 16 Womenswear show.

Last season’s Yohji Yamamoto collection seemed a world away. Gone were the Victorian lace gloves, ornamental umbrellas, and caged skirts. This season saw Yamamoto return to purity and minimal fuss. The only hint of any kind of embellishment came from red silks, which were appliqué stitched and then left to hang as loose thread. Red is the only colour that Mr Yamamoto deems anywhere near as powerful as black or white, but he loves its graphic quality. Here, he used the red thread to provide a free falling architectural line. More free hand lines appeared on the faces of the models –squiggles were drawn in black over or around bleached out brows.

An enquiry into black – via varied textures - saw outerwear and tailoring seemingly dipped or coated with a plastic. It created slick effects, resembling rain on asphalt or wet tarmac. The searing bright show lights served to show up the interplay between matt and gloss. Like a highlighter, it was as if texture had become a colour. Long shiny acrylic hairpieces were also woven and placed along the models’ hairlines, which gave the effect of their real hair looking matt in comparison. Incredibly well cut pieces also saw the shine help the 3D volumes appear more dynamic. It highlighted the cut of a razor sharp lapel – and of course, made these pieces appear less flat when viewed as a picture on social media. The idea of painting with black on black evolved to greyscale wools being dipped in gradient shades of black also. Eventually, the black paint turned into its opposite shade on the spectrum, as white emulsion brush strokes were used to stencil slogans on the backs of coats. Captions included, ‘I will be back soon.’ Show music lyrics were sparse – it was mostly Yohji playing guitar again – but one phrase oft heard repeated was, ‘stop me before I fall again.’ All fairly evasive, yet strangely romantic and melancholic. The designer’s guitar strumming called his tribe forward like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. But where were the tribe heading? Yohji’s designs seemingly belonged to no particular place or time.  Silhouettes saw a long oversized sleeve hang loose on a dress, and some blouson bomber jackets with dropped waists. Fairly anonymous, they simply spoke of an ongoing practice. The disproportion and decon-recon interplay here were the design enquiries of an original master.  In a season where anyone who is doing decon-recon is now – according to some – ‘doing Vetements’, this was just Yohji doing Yohji.

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