In order to create an image almost similar to that of a pencil case standing up and walking, I try to eliminate all excess by cutting. I have the feeling that this process (of "cutting off") is linked in some way to "elegance". Elegance and so-called "eliminating excess", or the beauty that remains after excess has beeen eliminated...
Yohji YamamotoAt a certain point, I stopped seeing my clothing worn by people on the streets . . . It seemed like they were being treated as museum items.
Yohji YamamotoI hate fashion. Or the word fashion, which sounds colorful, extravagant, expensive and gorgeous. “I never wanted to walk the main street of fashion. I have been walking the sidewalks of fashion from the beginning, so I’m a bit dark.
Yohji YamamotoThere is also a schedule to fashion - the deadline is always set. So maybe the fashion business is a good business for me in that way because I'm basically lazy, man.
Yohji YamamotoI believe that there are three conditions to a woman’s beauty. First, you must realize that not all women are beautiful all of the time. Sometimes beauty comes on a subconscious level. When she is in love, or has met someone new and exciting, she shines. Second, you must understand that life is unfair. Beauty is something that, for some, must be worked at. The third condition is luck. Some women can just be lucky.
Yohji YamamotoI feel like I have become a living fossil in the fashion world. Without even noticing it, in my own collection I have moved away from the street style.
Yohji YamamotoIf you feel strongly about someone, go up to them. Pursue what you want in life. Why be shy about something like that?
Yohji YamamotoBlack is modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy - but mysterious. [...] But above all black says this: 'I don't bother you - don't bother me'
Yohji YamamotoMen's clothing is more pure in design. It's more simple and has no decoration. Women want that. When I started designing, I wanted to make men's clothes for women. But there were no buyers for it. Now there are. I always wonder who decided that there should be a difference in the clothes of men and women. Perhaps men decided this.
Yohji YamamotoI think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things humans make, I want to see scars, failure, disorder, distortion.
Yohji YamamotoJust listen to the material. What is it going to say? Just wait. Probably the material will tell you something.
Yohji YamamotoI want to achieve anti-fashion through fashion. That's why I'm always heading in my own direction, in parallel to fashion.
Yohji YamamotoColour disturbs people. I am confident in black, not in light. This dark side of life is attractive to me forever and from the beginning. I am a lazy designer when it comes to colour.
Yohji YamamotoThe best moments in my life are just before going to bed. Those are my happiest moments.
Yohji YamamotoAdidas is a very personal inspiration to me. It has enriched my creative life. It's an exchange between different cultures, different ideas, and most of all, it is teamwork.
Yohji YamamotoA beautiful flower does not exist. There's only a moment when a flower looks beautiful.
Yohji YamamotoMy role in all of this is very simple. I make clothing like armor. My clothing protects you from unwelcome eyes.
Yohji YamamotoStart copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy you will find your self.
Yohji YamamotoI don’t think we should try to make space our own. I believe that as modern people we should live in mobility. We should always be moving.
Yohji YamamotoI was on a Japanese designers' pedestal - considered a maestro. My design was getting closer to a couturier's work, and I felt like I was missing something.
Yohji YamamotoI have no imagination about holidays, vacations, or retiring life. I can't imagine about those things.
Yohji YamamotoI exist here, now. I'm not much interested in the future. Or, more precisely put, I do not believe in the future. To exaggerate a little, I have no faith that I will still exist tomorrow or the day after. What is more, I absolutely detest retrospection. That dislike is balances only by my desire to make my way back home as quickly as possible.
Yohji YamamotoFashion cannot make you sexy. Experience makes you sexy. Imagination makes people sexy. You have to train yourself, you have to study, and you have to live your life.
Yohji YamamotoFashion sighs after trends. I want timeless elegance. Fashion has no time. I do. I say: Hello Lady, how can I help you? Fashion has no time to even ask such a question, because it is constantly concerned with finding out: What will come next? It is more about helping women to suffer less, to attain more freedom and independence.
Yohji YamamotoFashion is only complete when it is worn by ordinary people who exist now, managing their lives, loving and grieving.
Yohji YamamotoI always want to have a new challenge involved. I need to put myself to the test, and if I make mistakes, it doesn't matter. What matters to me, instead, is making my dreams come true and putting them on display.
Yohji YamamotoGenerally speaking, I am not interested in the future and don't believe in it. First, I guess it is true that I don't trust the future, but, more to the point, I don't even trust the "myself" of tomorrow, nor, for that matter, of the day after. Basically, all I know, and all I am capable of understanding, is the "me" that is here, now, the "me" that has dragged his past with him to this point.
Yohji YamamotoIt meant something to me – the idea of a coat guarding and hiding a woman’s body. For me, a woman who is absorbed in her work, who does not care about gaining one’s favor, strong yet subtle at the same time, is essentially more seductive. The more she hides and abandons her femininity, the more it emerges from the very heart of her existence.
Yohji Yamamoto