Text by Cristian Burbano

Introducing the Dickensian British dandy via the mind of Yohji Yamamoto.

Due to covid related travel restrictions Yamamoto couldn’t travel to Paris, instead he chose to film an in-person show at the label’s Aoyama flagship store in Tokyo and presented it as part of the Paris schedule. The multigenerational cast of models walked to the ethereal soundtrack of Yohji Yamamoto’s own band in white make-up and wild sculpted grey powdered hair – very Tim Burton – they strolled right up to the camera lens as if about to step through our screens.

As has become the designer’s signature, the collection was almost entirely black, bar a series of white flowing longline shirts. Looks were deconstructed and often layered, with a vagabond charm to them: frock coats, baggy trousers waistcoats and cravats, accessorised with brooches, crucifixes, masks and round eyewear. Yamamoto’s slouchy silhouette continues to reign, with raw hems and exposed seams nodding to an Artful Dodger lifestyle. Elsewhere, the designer worked with Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński, known for his dystopian surrealism works, to create prints, these included textured black leopard prints and splashes of green and brown patches on overcoats and suiting, resembling the strokes of an artist’s brush.

Outerwear was a highlight, including a selection of coats with Japanese calligraphy embroidered on the back as was jewellery created in collaboration with RIEFE which conjured Beksiński’s twisted world into our own.