Y's Yohji Yamamoto Designed Aesop's Milan Design Week Uniform

Summary

• Aesop’s Factory of Light exhibit features the Aposē lamp, a handcrafted brass and glass design that reflects the brand’s warm, atmospheric aesthetic.

• Staff will wear custom, minimalist black jackets designed by Y’s Yohji Yamamoto, highlighting a shared nonconformist philosophy and a focus on restrained, organic style.

While Aesop‘s Milan Design Week 2026 activation centers around its Aposē lamp design at Salone del Mobile, the unsuspecting black coats worn by Aesop’s staff have also become a topic of conversation.

Designed by Y’s Yohji Yamamoto, the uniform is a minimal black jacket, made in a subtly wrinkled fabric, and finished with a patch pocket at the waist and a hidden pocket on the left side. Ushers and employees of Aesop will be sporting the garment throughout the Factory of Light exhibit at Milan Design Week from April 21-26.

In an official statement, Aesop highlights the synergies between the brand and the Japanese designer, “As nonconformists by nature, both Y’s and Aesop adorn the skin with something beyond just formulations, fragrance or fabric.” The relaxed sensibility of the fabric and its longline hem are both characteristic of Yamamoto’s tailored noir style, while also lending itself well to Aesop’s organically inspired aesthetic and restrained ethos.

The simple design lets Aesop’s main focus, the lamp, take center stage in the Factory of Light. The multisensory experience will use the Aposē lighting design to express the brand’s characteristic traits: atmospheric, warm, and balanced. The brand’s in-house architects helmed the design, which features a brass plinth, cast by hand in a German family-run forge, and a milky glass shade, mouth-blown near Murano, Italy. Like Aesop’s fragrances and skincare products, the Aposē washes the skin it touches with a golden glow.

Official images preview the custom Y’s Yohji Yamamoto x Aesop jacket in the gallery above.