01IN 1981, TWO JAPANESE DESIGNERS ARRIVED IN PARIS AND HORRIFIED IT.
ONE WAS REI KAWAKUBO. THE OTHER WAS YOHJI YAMAMOTO, WHO SENT OUT
A SEA OF BLACK, OVERSIZED, ASYMMETRIC, DELIBERATELY UNFINISHED
CLOTHES. CRITICS WERE APPALLED. FASHION DID NOT STAY THE SAME.
02IT WAS A DELIBERATE REBELLION. YAMAMOTO REJECTED THE EUROPEAN IDEA
OF A BEAUTIFUL, BODY-HUGGING, COLOURFUL GARMENT. HIS CLOTHES WERE
LOOSE, DARK AND DRAPED, BUILT AROUND THE SPACE BETWEEN FABRIC AND
BODY. THE PRESS CALLED IT ANTI-FASHION. HE TOOK IT AS A COMPLIMENT.
03AND BLACK WAS THE WHOLE POINT. TO YAMAMOTO, BLACK WAS NOT GLOOM, IT
WAS PROTECTION. 'I WANTED TO PROTECT THEM,' HE SAID OF WOMEN, 'FROM
MEN'S EYES, OR A COLD WIND.' THE CLOTHES WERE ARMOUR, MEANT TO GIVE
THE WEARER SPACE, NOT TO PUT HER ON DISPLAY.
04HE EVEN FINDS BEAUTY IN FLAWS. 'I THINK PERFECTION IS UGLY,' HE ONCE
SAID. HE WANTS TO SEE SCARS, FAILURE, DISORDER, DISTORTION. HIS SEAMS
SHOW, HIS HEMS FRAY, HIS SHAPES LEAN. THE IMPERFECTION IS NOT A
MISTAKE, IT IS THE ENTIRE PHILOSOPHY.
05THE BACKSTORY IS SEWN IN. HIS FATHER WAS KILLED IN THE WAR, AND HIS
MOTHER RAISED HIM ALONE, RUNNING A DRESSMAKING BUSINESS IN A
RUINED TOKYO. YAMAMOTO STUDIED LAW, WALKED AWAY FROM IT, AND
LEARNED TO SEW AT HIS MOTHER'S SIDE. THE CLOTHES CARRY THAT WEIGHT.
06THAT IS THE MYSTIQUE. DECADES ON, YAMAMOTO STILL SHOWS, STILL IN
BLACK, STILL REFUSING THE RULES HE BROKE IN 1981. HALF THE INDUSTRY
DRESSES IN THE DARK, DRAPED SILHOUETTE HE HELPED INVENT. THE POET IN
BLACK DID NOT HAVE TO SHOUT TO BE HEARD.