Japanese fashion designer Yoji Yamamoto is the face of the new issue of the American magazine. GQ and interviewed journalist Noah Johnson at the fashion house’s Paris headquarters. Photos by Gareth McConnell.
The designer, whom the author calls the “godfather of avant-garde fashion” and “the unofficial Nobel laureate of tailoring,” partly told the magazine that “the philosophy of clothing has never changed”.
He also stated that he has nothing against others copying their clothes.
“I don’t care. Everything is fine. Copy me. A copy will always remain a copy. I’m not copying anyone,” said Yoji Yamamoto.
In a conversation, Yamamoto also admitted that he didn’t feel like a Japanese until the early ’80s, when French fashion magazines started using the word “Japanese” when he presented his collections in Paris with Kenzo Takada, Issey Miyake and Ray Kawakubo. “New fashion designers from Japan to the galaxy.
“I didn’t know I was Japanese because I was born in the rubble of American bombing. I didn’t feel like Japanese – I’m a man from Tokyo,” the fashion designer admitted.
Previously reportedIrene Sylvani, former creative director of Yohji Yamamoto, has passed away.