Yohji Yamamoto

Yohji Yamamoto launched his eponymous line in Tokyo in 1976, with the idea of creating men’s coats that could cover and protect a woman. He debuted his womenswear in Paris in 1981, with dramatic runway shows that furthered his reputation as an avant-garde visionary – although he prefers the title of “dressmaker” for its humble significance. Over the years, Yamamoto has refined his signature silhouette of long, sweeping skirts, expertly draped dresses and trousers, and asymmetrically cut tailoring in an all-black palette to achieve an at once challenging, romantic, and unconventionally elegant effect. His voluminous shapes at once conceal and intrigue, infusing artistic cuts with an intellectual and poetic sensibility indebted to Eastern philosophy.