Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
“There is beauty in darkness.” Though this is a rather generic saying, it most beautifully describes Yohji Yamamoto‘s exceptional Fall 2019 show in Paris. In fact, beautiful doesn’t’ even begin to describe what the show actually was like. It was wildly fascinating, strongly emotional, extremely poetic, and a little dark. And no, it wasn’t a demonstration of activism as he’s done in the past. This was just a pure celebration of beauty, craft, and romance. First, the parade of midnight-hued column silhouettes that opened the show provided the very few instances of wearable pieces in the collection, and even they would still be quite challenging to navigate in any environment. Aggressively painted swathes of fabrics divinely draped on the models that followed after conjured up a different feeling—an exploration of emotions that was a tad overwhelming, but euphoric nonetheless. And finally, women expertly wrapped in black with only their left eyes exposed to the public presented a sort of classic seduction that was enigmatic and elegant. If only such looks were wearable on the street, then the world can share in Mr. Yamamoto’s exquisite beauty and poetry.
