is a Japanese fashion designer based in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Considered a master tailor alongside those such as Madeleine Vionnet, he is known for his avant-garde tailoring featuring Japanese design aesthetics. Yamamoto has won notable awards for his contributions to fashion, including the Chevalier/Officier/Commandeur of

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

, Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon, the

Ordre national du Mérite The (; ) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's establishment was twofold: to replace the large number of ...

, the Royal Designer for Industry and the Master of Design award by Fashion Group International.

Early life

Born in

, Yamamoto graduated from

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

with a degree in law in 1966. He gave up a prospective legal career to assist his mother in her dressmaking business, from where he learned his tailoring skills. He further studied

fashion design Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has varied over time and place. "A fashion design ...

Bunka Fashion College is a Japanese Vocational education, vocational school specializing in fashion design and related disciplines. It is headquartered in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and has more than 70 branches throughout Japan. History The college was founded in 1919 by Is ...

, earning his degree in 1969. "Yoji Yamamoto,"
'Women's Wear Daily'' (New York). Yohji Yamamoto polyester gown 1998

Career

Yamamoto debuted in Tokyo in 1977, followed by two more shows; a debut in Paris in 1981 and in New York in 1982. His first collection under the label Y's, focused on a collection for women that reflected typical men's garments, with clothes cut in uncluttered shapes with washed fabrics and dark colors. In an interview with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in 1983, Yamamoto said of his designs, "I think that my men's clothes look as good on women as my women's clothing ��When I started designing, I wanted to make men's clothes for women." More recently he has expounded: "When I started making clothes for my line Y's in 1977, all I wanted was for women to wear men's clothes. I jumped on the idea of designing coats for women. It meant something to me – the idea of a coat guarding and hiding a woman's body. I wanted to protect the woman's body from something – maybe from men's eyes or a cold wind." His main line, Yohji Yamamoto (women/men) and Y's, are especially regarded in

. These two lines are also available at his flagship stores in Paris and Antwerp, and at high-end department stores. Other principal lines include the high fashion brand Pour Homme, Costume d'Homme, and the

diffusion line A diffusion line (also known as a bridge line) is a secondary line of merchandise created by a high-end fashion house or fashion designer that retails at lower prices. These ranges are separate from a fashion house's "signature line", or principal ...

Coming Soon. Yamamoto is known for an avant-garde spirit in his pieces, frequently creating designs far removed from current trends. His signature oversized silhouettes often feature drapery in varying textures. Yohji's collections are predominately made in black, a colour which Yamamoto has described as "modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy – but mysterious. But above all black says this: "I don't bother you – don't bother me"." Poor decisions by finance managers pushed the brand into debts of more than US$65 million in 2009, which angered Yamamoto and led to a company

restructuring Restructuring or Reframing is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. ...

from 2009 to 2010. The

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm Integral Corp was identified as the Japanese company who will restructure the Yohji Yamamoto brand and by November 2010 the company was out of debt. Since its Paris debut in 1981, Yohji Yamamoto has continued to expand its cutting-edge influence through fashion. Now, it takes a leap into the wider creative field with the introduction of a new conceptual chapte
WILDSIDE

Fashion advocacy

In 2008, the Yohji Yamamoto Fund for Peace was established to foster development of China's fashion industry and to help heal the long-standing enmity between China and Japan.Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries
"Y's Fashion Show and Auction for Yohji Yamamoto Fund for Peace Held in Beijing."
Each year, an emerging Chinese designer will be awarded with a two-year scholarship to a fashion college in Japan or Europe, and a male or female Chinese fashion model will be selected to make a runway debut during the Paris

prêt-à-porter Ready-to-wear (RTW)also called ''prêt-à-porter'', or off-the-rack or off-the-peg in casual useis the term for garments sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a parti ...

season. Yamamoto has been quoted as saying: "they must have so many angry young people. Being a fashion designer or an artist, you have to be angry." Of the fashion show he staged in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in spring 2008 to launch this initiative, Yamamoto said, "It's not political. I am going to open a store here, then Chinese people will come and shop there, and then they are happy. The real art is making people happy, but also asking questions about society."

Brand identity

Yamamoto's designs recall Japanese drawing techniques. His technique consists of wide cuts, often oversized, exotic and luxurious materials and elaborate handicrafts. The designer endeavors to make his pieces from the back and not from the front. He favors dark colors.

Chronology

*1973: Founded Y's joint stock corporation *1977: Tokyo collection debut *1981: Pret a porter collection debut in Paris. Yohji Yamamoto line started at the same time *1984: Yohji Yamamoto joint stock corporation founded *1993: Designed costumes for the

Heiner Müller Heiner Müller (; 9 January 1929 – 30 December 1995) was a German (formerly East German) dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. His "enigmatic, fragmentary pieces" are a significant contribution to postmodern drama and postd ...

Daniel Barenboim Daniel Moses Barenboim (; born 15 November 1942) is an Argentines, Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin, who also has Spain, Spanish and State of Palestine, Palestinian citizenship. From 1992 until January 2023, Bare ...

production of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's opera

Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner set to a German libretto by the composer, loosely based on the medieval 12th-century romance ''Tristan and Iseult'' by Gottfried von Stras ...

at The

Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...

*1996: Designed alongside Red or Dead founders Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway MBE *2002: Haute couture collection presented in Paris. Relationship formed with exclusive Parisian boutiques *2003: Opening of the Y's line flagship store in Roppongi Hills *2003: Y-3 line and collection debut *2011: Exhibition at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in London *2014: Designs third kits for the football club Real Madrid *2019: Designs the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

jerseys for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup () was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening matc ...

*2022: Designed a special alternate all-black uniform set for the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...

that was played from September 6–8 against the

Yokohama DeNA BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current n ...

Awards

* :

/ Chevalier, 1994 * : Medals of Honor / Medal with Purple Ribbon, 2004 * : Japan brand development (contributed corporation) award from

METI Meti is a town in south-western Ethiopia, located in Godere woreda of the Gambela Region The Gambela Region, also spelled Gambella, and officially the Gambela Peoples' Region (), is a regional state in western Ethiopia. Previously known as ...

, 2005 * : Ordre des Arts et des Lettres / Officier, 2005 * : Ordre des Arts et des Lettres / Commandeur, 2011

Filmography

* '' Notebook on Cities and Clothes'' (1989) by

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and photographer, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Venice International Film ...

* ''Brother'' (2000) by Kitano Takeshi * ''Dolls'' (2002) by Kitano Takeshi * ''

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

'' (2008) by

* ''Yohji Yamamoto: This is My Dream'' (2011) by Theo Stanley * ''Yohji Yamamoto: Dressmaker'' (2016) by NGO The Chau

References

"Yoji Yamamoto,"
'Women's Wear Daily.''

External links

Yohji Yamamoto Official Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yamamoto, Yohji Keio University alumni Clothing brands of Japan High fashion brands Japanese fashion designers Japanese brands Shoe brands 1943 births Articles containing video clips Living people Artists from Tokyo Adidas people