If there's anything one would love to wear during summer, it would be t-shirt and shorts and nothing more. I have to admit that casual does play a significant part in my 'wardrobe agenda' during summer and in Singapore, the most you can layer, even during the coldest of days, would be nothing more than a trench-coat (that is if you always stay indoors.) I'm not here to talk or defend about easy dressing but quite the opposite, I'm here to yak about Yohji Yamamoto new menswear collection that addresses the issue of 'dressing down'. I'm not particularly sure when the American way of t-shirt dressing started to dominate the wardrobes of people worldwide (probably the 90s, probably) but if there's anything dandier than the suits of today, then history would only prove better. 18th century dressing to be exact, that was the time Yohji Yamamoto looked back to. And because I'm a history student who is very much in love with history, my senses would only react with excitement to this collection. Pull up your stockings and hoses, put on your powdered wigs and make-up, because that's how Mr Yohji sees it.
If there was anything different about the line-up of models, it was that they were playing characters, one could spot an aristocrat, or a classic English Gentleman or a literary laureate from the Victorian era. A stark difference from the model clones we saw at Prada. Everything was very elaborate, from the powdered faces, to the mustaches and full-grown beards, and to sausage curls and ponytails on the head. At one point of the collection, we thought we saw Willy Wonka replicas come down the runway, complete with top-hats and felted millinery kookier than what Mr Willy Wonka would ever put on. At another point, we even thought we saw those court officials that wore powdered wigs in fairytales come to life, only that would be creepy and so something closer to real life, would be those who wear gowns and wigs in courtrooms. A digression, why would anyone try to act serious when they are in costume? (You get what I mean. I'm trying to be funny, but apparently not. Awkward laughter.)
Even if the hats and make-up and not forgetting the stockings stayed true to history, the clothes were anything but that. Eccentric would be the proper term to describe these garments, and 'clothes revived from the coffin'? Not quite so. The first part of the collection saw the use of florals, one that would probably be seen on the wallpapers of an old English house or on the armchair in an old antique shop. Unfortunately, style.com didn't provide any detail shots because that would add on to the excitement I'm having for florals right now, though it would take me lots of guts and a whole lot of bottles of tequila and vodka and gin for me to wear floral prints out onto the streets. Then again maybe I will, but I first need to find one that suits me. There were also some sort of cross-stitching/embroidery/patchwork on a few of the jackets, of what seemed to be teddy-bears and a christmas tree (?) and arrows of a compass (???), but a pity no detail shots were provided. Though a little kitschy, it sure would make for a great detail (that Tommy Ton would shoot for GQ) and not forgetting, very endearing too.
If you were expecting to see Savile Row suits when Yohji announced he was taking things a little formal for this collection, you obviously do not know Yohji Yamamoto well enough. When he said he was dressing things up, what he really meant was loose, long, even oversized formal wear-his signature proportions. But while keeping with his design DNA, Yohji also stepped away from the use of monochromes, and introduced a broader (and the first in a long time) palette of orange, turquoise, and purple. There were the oversized jackets and looser versions of tailcoats, but honestly, one could easily mistake one for the other if he hadn't look closely. The shirting was cut at the ends to resemble waistcoats and Yohji had very very lovingly and adorably included oversized bow ties in a few looks. Those with a keen eye for identifying fashion faux pas, would have noticed that collars and even the lapels of jackets were upturned, but then again these were very different from those who have the annoying habit of popping up their collars of their polo shirts. Perhaps these here were high-peaked, but nonetheless it made for a real interesting detail, and the way they were done, it was nothing pretentious but more of nonchalance and just that 'I-couldn't-care-less' attitude.
It was a great story that Yohji told with his clothes, one that crossed between history and reality, eccentricity and elegance, and the living and the dead. It was indeed a breath of fresh air, just like Spring and how Spring clothes should be. My favourite menswear collection for this season. Vuvuzela.
