Yohji Yamamoto
PARIS, March 7, 2002
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Yohji Yamamoto's riffs on sport-meets-couture-meets-Japanese-asymmetry have lasted a couple of seasons now. But even though other designers have been coming up on the outside with zippy track suits, hoodies and parkas this season, Yohji is still out in front.As is his wont, Yamamoto mixed street sport pieces with military drab, denim, knit, biker leathers and traditional suit and coat fabrics. He started out with trompe l'oeil biker jackets which were fused with skirts to look like coats, then cut up denim to layer over zipped sweats and long, elegant black pleated skirts. Oversized men's suits stumbled on the asexual side, but the designer's 20-year obsession with the formal structures of Western couture put him back on track. He cut tailcoats in khaki and worked graphic leather patches into black jackets and suits. A navy melton peacoat and a long coat cut with three-quarter-length puffed sleeves bordered on modernist Balenciaga.
Ultimately, this show was a bit of a marathon complete with some uphill moments. And when Yamamoto reached the finish line via parkas and nylon jackets with wings painted on the back, it wasn't certain whether he was conjuring heavenly seraphims or Hell's Angels. Either way, the audience cheered.
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