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Yohji Yamamoto

Founder Yohji Yamamoto

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Yohji Yamamoto

Yohji Yamamoto is founder of the eponymous Japanese fashion house behind the Y’s label, the signature Yohji Yamamoto and newest entrée, Coming Soon.

The avant-garde designer is known for his oversized silhouettes, innovative draping and complicated cuts that suggest abstract sculpture. Relying on a somber color palette often dominated by black, Yamamoto at first startled, then delighted, the fashion world with austere looks in the early Eighties – a time when everyone else was doing shoulder pads for power dressing.  Androgyny and asymmetry are prevailing themes for the designer.

Yamamoto, who possesses a compact physical frame and a black belt in karate, studied law at Keio University in Tokyo and graduated in 1966. He then went on to Tokyo’s prestigious Bunka Fashion College, (Bunka Fukuso Gakuin) and graduated in 1969. Three years later, Yamamoto established Y’s Inc. from which he launched his first collection in 1977. His signature Yohji Yamamoto line debuted with women’s wear in 1981, followed by the Pour Homme men’s collection in 1984.

He partnered with athletic giant Adidas in 2002 to create the Y-3 label, a co-branded line of sportswear, footwear and accessories that blends Yamamoto’s aesthetic with high-performance design.

In 2008, he launched the Yohji Yamamoto Fund for Peace, a joint venture with China’s government designed to promote better Sino-Japanese relations through fashion.

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