Almost Overdressed

Reflective Journal Part 2 | Design & Toiling

Reflective Journal Part One | Sketch Book

Designer Files | Yohji Yamamoto

Yohji Yamamoto became an influential designer in the 80s changing the direction of fashion and challenging traditional norms through his designs since then. His name is respected in not only the fashion world of the high couture brands but also the high street names through his many collaborations.

Sculptural Fashion - black oversized coat with soft padded volume // Yohji Yamamoto:

He is known ,similarly to Rei Kawakubo, as a designer who shows his ethnicity through his designs, his key looks being big oversized avant-garde silhouettes with Japanese shapes creating the huge drapes and shapes we see on the catwalks. His designs are mainly black so as not to take away attention from the proportion and cuts of the clothes. His collections show off voluminous, deconstructed tailoring and his unusual pattern cutting techniques.

The inspiration behind these big cuts and shilouettes comes from the idea he had of woman hood from his early life. He believes that women's bodies should be shown off through enveloping shilouettes rather than skimpy dresses and when starting out his brand he knew he wanted to make clothes for women that looked like mens clothing. From this he designed a collection inspired on Japanese mens work wear making a social statement with his first collection.

In every design he holds a high importance on the fabric and makes all his textiles using traditional Japanese techniques such as the dyeing technique, Shibori, to dye cloth by binding small areas with silk threads. Another traditional Japanese dying method he often uses in his collections is Yuzen an old dyeing technique which originated from Kyoto in the 1700s and is traditionally used for Kimonos and to make motifs. Although he uses ancient methods he uses them through his designs in a non traditional way, for example using them on garments for modern motifs. His interest in art history is also a big inspiration for many of his designs.

Yohji Yamamoto Fall 2015 Ready-to-Wear - Collection - Gallery - Style.com:

Since his first collection, when he show cased his designs of misshapen coats worn with huge brimmed hats, he's created shock through the fashion industry with his new silhouettes and unfinished look of his out of trend clothes. However throughout the years as more people have come to understand his ideas and radical designs he's influenced innovative new ideas throughout fashion.
Lots of Love Polly x