Fashion Charts XI

1. Rick Owens Spring/Summer 2015

2. Dries van Noten Spring/Summer 2015

3. Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2015

Longing for strap-ons. Who would've ever thought that those three will be partners in harness crime. Alien netwear (Rick) vs. ballet fencing (Dries) vs. amputee tailoring (Yohji). Another top three.
/HORST

Tokyo Diaries XIV

A mental travel preparation.

1. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2011 2007
2. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2007
3. Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 1998

Another example of reversion as cultural adaption. Printed on the back, the pin-up of Western sex-charged trash culture is turned into a decorative token, treated with the same respect as a true masterpiece (or Dalí).
/HORST

Paths Towards Modernity IV

A fictive documentary in art and fashion.





















1. Tadanori Yokoo Fuji Junko, 1991
2. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2014
3. Tadanori Yokoo Throw Away Your Books, 1967
4. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2014
5. Tadanori Yokoo Nishikicho, 2004
6. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2014
7. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2014
8. Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 1998
9. Tadanori Yokoo Genka (Illusory Flowers), 1975
10. Tadanori Yokoo Genka (Illusory Flowers), 1975
11. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2009
12. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2014
13. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2014
14. Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2009
15. Tadanori Yokoo Genka (Illusory Flowers), 1975

At first glance, Yohji Yamamoto's latest collection felt like a departure.Towards tattoo and tribal, psychodelia and visual shock. Recurrent motifs: skulls, roses, serpents. In fact, it was not a change of methodology, nor psychology. Instead of covering everything in black dye/ink, the inner essence and tradition of Japanese visual culture was made visible. Yamamoto revealed himself (as friend of Tadanori Yokoo); of course only to those who remember.
/HORST

Cut-Coat

1. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2008
2. Lucio Fontana Concetto Spaziale, 1959

Slitted, double-layered trompe l'oeil coats that demand relevance again. Sexually precise cuts, brutally forbidden peeks. Pastel-coloured 'destroyed' canvases that demand attention through irritation.
/HORST

Hip Teens Over 30

Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2014

Have we yet discussed the best collection for 2014? Junya Watanabe was quite close - with shredded hippie anti-structures. And now, after a few weeks of thinking, I came to the conclusion that it is Yohji's time. Fluoroscent neon bigotry, disgusting, hip and trendy, self-questioning, fantastic.
/HORST

A Short History Of The Apron In Popular Culture

1. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2013
2. Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2004
3. Joseph Beuys Backrest For A Fine-Limbed Person, 1972

While icon of domestic (supression) and household chores of 1950s Germania/Americana, the apron bares both - a sensitive and brutal subtext, once put into male context. The butcher, the craftsman, the sculptor. Put shortly, the misunderstood artist on the threshold from genius to madness.
/HORST

Trend X-Plorer II

Revealing trends that cannot and will not be picked up but should be nonetheless.
Part 2: Rip Offs, Shreds & Slits

1. Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2014
2. Comme des Garçons Spring/Summer 2014
3. J.W. Anderson Spring/Summer 2014

Accidental scissor cuts, moths, cigarette burns, barbwire fences - wearing your broken clothes was never so fashionable. A daring homage to dysfunction in a performance-driven society. Reassuring that we all fail everyday - which does not make us weaker but better beings.
/HORST

Empty Pockets

1. Fendi Fall/Winter 2013
2. Prada Spring/Summer 1999
3. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2004

The pocket as exaggaretd means of space and transport. Enough room for the globalized psyche of a world traveller. Multi-minded, try-sexual, jet-sad. Unable to keep anything and take everything with himself.
/HORST

A Short History Of The Comic Strip In Popular Culture IV

1. Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2009
2. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 1987
3. Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2004
4. Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2002
5. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2007

The Yohji Yamamoto appreciation edition. Throughout the years, comic derivates re-appear within the menswear collections. Ranging from stylized hand silhouettes to Geisha portraits and pixelized computer characters. From poetic to rather ridiculous, they reflect a constant 'twinkle in the eye' as core of an aesthetic universe.
/HORST