Yohji Yamamoto

Yohji Yamamoto (山本 耀司) is a Japanese fashion designer based in Tokyo and Paris.

Considered a master tailor alongside those such as Madeleine Vionnet, he is known for his avant-garde tailoring featuring Japanese design aesthetics.

Yamamoto has won notable awards for his contributions to fashion, including the Chevalier/Officier/Commandeur of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon, the Ordre national du Mérite, the Royal Designer for Industry and the Master of Design award by Fashion Group International.

Born in Tokyo, Yamamoto graduated from Keio University with a degree in law in 1966.

He gave up a prospective legal career to assist his mother in her dressmaking business, from where he learned his tailoring skills.

He further studied fashion design at Bunka Fashion College, getting a degree in 1969.

Yamamoto debuted in Tokyo in 1977, followed by two more shows; a debut in Paris in 1981 and in New York in 1982.

His first collection under the label Y's, focused on a collection for women that reflected typical men's garments, with clothes cut in uncluttered shapes with washed fabrics and dark colors.

More recently he has expounded: "When I started making clothes for my line Y's in 1977, all I wanted was for women to wear men's clothes. I jumped on the idea of designing coats for women. It meant something to me – the idea of a coat guarding and hiding a woman's body. I wanted to protect the woman's body from something – maybe from men's eyes or a cold wind."

His commercially successful main line, Yohji Yamamoto (women/men) and Y's, are especially popular in Tokyo.

These two lines are also available at his flagship stores in Paris and Antwerp, and at high-end department stores worldwide.

Other principal lines include Pour Homme, Costume d'Homme, and the diffusion line Coming Soon.

Since its Paris debut in 1981, Yohji Yamamoto has continued to expand its cutting-edge influence through fashion.

Now, it takes a leap into the wider creative field with the introduction of a new conceptual chapter WILDSIDE.

In an interview with The New York Times in 1983, Yamamoto said of his designs, "I think that my men's clothes look as good on women as my women's clothing […] When I started designing, I wanted to make men's clothes for women."

Yohji Yamamoto Inc. reported in 2007 that the sales of Yamamoto's two main lines average above $100 million annually.

Yamamoto is known for an avant-garde spirit in his clothing, frequently creating designs far removed from current trends.

His signature oversized silhouettes often feature drapery in varying textures.

Yohji' collections are predominately made in black, a colour which Yamamoto has described as "modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy – but mysterious. But above all black says this: "I don't bother you – don't bother me"."

In 2008, the Yohji Yamamoto Fund for Peace was established to foster development of China's fashion industry and to help heal the long-standing enmity between China and Japan.

Each year, an emerging Chinese designer will be awarded with a two-year scholarship to a fashion college in Japan or Europe, and a male or female Chinese fashion model will be selected to make a runway debut during the Paris prêt-à-porter season.

Yamamoto has been quoted as saying: "they must have so many angry young people. Being a fashion designer or an artist, you have to be angry."

Of the fashion show he staged in Beijing in spring 2008 to launch this initiative, Yamamoto said, "It's not political. I am going to open a store here, then Chinese people will come and shop there, and then they are happy. The real art is making people happy, but also asking questions about society."

Yamamoto's designs recall Japanese drawing techniques.

His technique consists of wide cuts, exotic and luxurious materials and elaborate handicrafts.

The designer endeavors to make his clothes from the back and not from the front.

He favors dark colors.

Poor decisions by finance managers pushed the brand into debts of more than US$65 million in 2009, which angered Yamamoto and led to a company restructuring from 2009 to 2010.

The private equity firm Integral Corp was identified as the Japanese company who will restructure the Yohji Yamamoto Inc and by November 2010 the company was out of debt and avoiding the risk of bankruptcy.