During an interview given shortly before the Spring/Summer 2013 fashion show, Yohji Yamamoto said that he was not in the least interested in producing recognizable clothing styles bearing his name every season, but rather that he wished to approach the creative process as a new challenge each and every time, as an opportunity to try new things and break free of repetitive ideas. The obvious risk of getting it wrong and not being understood by his audience, if seen for just what it is and why, would not be so important to him.

His statement seems to anticipate a spring and summer collection that steers away from the intensely poetic and familiar styles that Yohji has accustomed his fans to in order to make way for something fresh and unexpected.

When taken in the context of the current season’s fashions, the words of the great Japanese master seem to be more of a confession from an artist observing his own creative powers. Despite what he said his creations possess the easily-recognizable quality features that have always identified his work. Asymmetries, unfinished profiles, inventive volumes, cuts and stitching that are much closer to the meticulous slowness of high fashion than serial prêt-à-porter approximations, make up an ambitious and spectacular Spring/Summer collection.

The working of the fabric and the unique dyes make use of the most ancient and rare of  traditional Japanese methods that have remained unaltered in the few workshops able to pass on a cultural heritage that is in danger of being lost. Unheard of colours, such as indanthrene blue (made by hand then, dyed and faded using a slow bleeding process that imbues the colour with a unique metallic-lava effect), intersect lines with avant-garde designs.

The dragons on the printed silks pay explicit homage to China and offer a personal invitation to immediate economic and cultural reconciliation.

Even the Western expression “sexy“, mediated by a more sober and respectful intellectualism, joins in the design vocabulary of a modern Yohji Yamamoto, aware that cultures are getting closer, in a syncretism that is impossible to ignore. With the nimbleness of a Bolshoi dancer, the masterful artist moves deftly between tradition and modernity, East and West, displaying with all his expert skill, how a philosopher-craftsman designs clothes.

Pictures by Sari Milan