Structure, silhouette and imperfect beauty – Yohji Yamamoto presents an ethereal, haunting show for AW15.

A Haunting Moment

A lone model, cloaked in black wearing a hat with a veiled face enters the space in silence whilst the photographers shout and cuss about the lack of light. Has someone forgotten to press play on the music? Surely not. The second model enters the space with gelled back hair to the sound of a few disjointed piano keys. This was intentional silence, eerie and beautiful in equal measure. We were experiencing what we like to call a fashion moment, a landmark show that moved all those lucky enough to watch it first hand.

Drapes, Layers, Cloaks

A predominantly black collection (save for a moment of red and a splash of silver), we saw trousers and jackets appropriated in decadent velvet, cloaks worn over three piece suiting, oversized sleeves, slouchy velveteen trousers paired with white shirts, black harness belts and later, elegant lace evening dresses, also worn with cloaks and shoulders painted with Japanese illustrations. This was beauty in the ordinary, the mundane was elevated to statement level.

Yohji’s Structures

Whilst the models hair was gelled into multiple stiff ponytails, their eyes were lined vertically with delicate black crosses. But it was the structures that interspersed the show that were the talk of the collection. A silver structured dress worn upon a table, carried on the models shoulders, gave an almost arachnid appearance, whilst a silver and black dress with a square scaffolded skirt framed the beautiful exterior corsetry that Yamamoto purposefully left incomplete. Having persuaded the fashion industry that there is beauty in the unfinished (the Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi – a state of imperfect beauty) since he first came to fame in 1981, for AW15 Yamamoto looks to the past to move to the future.

Words: Brooke McCord.