Yohji Yamamoto’s soulfulness
Photograph by August Sander
When I was writing for Blueprint magazine in New York in the early 1990’s, I talked to Yohji Yamamoto when he was opening his store in Soho. He showed me a well-worn book of photographs by August Sander and said that he was moved by the way that people would have one suit, or coat, that they would wear with pride and look after carefully for many years. The small mends and replaced buttons would tell the stories of its life. “I want to design something that’s already ten years old,” he said.
He was saddened by the rapacious novelty that goes with the fashion system, of things being instantly outdated. I think he was putting in place the idea of a “classics” collection, classic staples — white shirts, coats, etc. that people would want to replace with something exactly the same when theirs wore out.
The story about Muji in the New York Times mentions that Yohji Yamamoto’s business partner is an adviser to the company, and brings these ethics of Yohji’s into their clothing line:
Goichi Hayashi, who is Yohji Yamamoto’s business partner and advises Muji on its fashion collection on Yamamoto’s behalf, takes a similar position. His mission, he says, is to make clothing that ‘‘someone will wear until it falls apart, and then buy the same thing again” – like a gauzy white shirt or a basic blazer. He feels that Muji’s home items offer the same kind of integrity. ‘‘They look like they are not 100 percent finished, and that is very attractive to the design community. A wooden coffee table, for example, has the screws showing – even though it would be easy to hide them – but it looks good like that. It’s honest.”
Ultimately, Muji’s goal is to let customers relate to their surroundings through the products they use. ‘‘I think people are questioning whether special design is really necessary,” says Fukasawa. ‘‘Muji’s approach is to eliminate designed-ness from all products and provide reliable choices, so labeling the brand becomes unnecessary. Simple is not a style – it is a state of harmony.”
