Dress
Yohji Yamamoto · fall/winter 1991–92
Yohji Yamamoto
- Unstructured layers
- Experimental tailoring
Yohji Yamamoto challenged conventions of Western dress through unstructured layers, unusual materials and altered proportions. His later work continued to reinterpret couture and tailoring traditions.
Official website
Five looks to know
Collection selection
Dress
fall/winter 1991–92
Hinged and bolted wooden panels form the bodice and extend over a black felted-wool skirt. A crescent shape projects from the hip, giving this finale look a deliberately constructed silhouette. Yamamoto treats clothing as an arrangement of planes, translating dressmaking into an unexpected dialogue between rigid wood and soft textile.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Collection selection
Dress
fall/winter 1991–92
From the same season as Yamamoto’s wooden finale dress, this design revisits the sailor uniform through a loose wool silhouette. The Met connects its nautical vocabulary to the freedom associated with Chanel’s early sportswear. Its restrained shape demonstrates how one collection could examine historical dress through both familiar garments and radical materials.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Collection selection
Dress
spring/summer 2005
Pleated silk rises into rounded, irregular forms at the neckline of this gown. The Met relates Yamamoto’s technique to the draped dresses of Madame Grès, while emphasizing the pronounced three-dimensional relief he gives the pleats. The design reconsiders couture history through an expressive, sculptural treatment of a single textile.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Collection selection
Coat
1995 · V&A collection
Wool (twill) Synthetic tulle and organza.
©Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Collection selection
Outfit
1997 · V&A collection
Shirt and skirt of rayon and silk devoré, dress of hand-painted nylon.
© Victoria & Albert MuseumCollections & archive pieces
3 collections represented · 4 piecesfall/winter 1991–92
2 pieces
Dress
Yohji Yamamoto · fall/winter 1991–92
spring/summer 2005
1 piece
Dress
Yohji Yamamoto · spring/summer 2005
spring/summer 1983
1 piece
Coat
Yohji Yamamoto · spring/summer 1983
About Yohji Yamamoto
A single 1991 collection could include a sailor-inspired dress and hinged wooden panels; his 2005 pleated gown similarly revisits historical technique while giving it a distinctly sculptural new form.