Yohji Yamamoto Shares His Fashion Philosophy

The Business of Fashion‘s Imran Amed sits down with legendary designer Yohji Yamamoto for an intimate episode of The BoF’s podcast. Yamamoto goes through his history as a designer before breaking down some of his own thoughts on the industry.

Yamamoto and Amed talk for over thirty minutes, covering topics like Yamamoto’s well-established predilection towards designing black clothes, his continued collaboration with adidas – Y3 – and elements of his history that informed his design standards. Yamamoto’s thoughts and pointed opinions ensure a didactic listen.

You can listen to the entire podcast below and on The Business of Fashion’s website. Check out select excerpts below.

On designing black clothing:

… When I looked [at] so many … colors, so many decorations [being worn], it looked very ugly. I felt [that I] … should not make people’s eyes disturbed by using horrible color. So I stay in monotone. … Not to disturb people.

On working with adidas on Y3:

… I got surprised from [the] United State[s]. The sneaker culture … Some sneakers look ugly. [They] look like [a] monster. … It must be interesting to work with sneaker[s]. I ma[d]e a phone call to adidas … ‘are you interested in collaborat[ing] with me?

On his thoughts regarding the fashion industry:

For me, fashion business became money business. And they look sexy and messy. … Clothing designer[s are] decreasing. [They're] only stylists. They [are] asked by … big [fashion] house[s] to make a show for selling accessories. Not for selling their own creation. The majority of business became like that. And I call it ‘mainstream of fashion.’ I’m not walking in the mainstream. I’m walking in the side street. The side, dark street. It’s quite comfortable. If I joined the mainstream, maybe I['d be] killed.