“It is that civilised humans must wear monochrome. In other words, it is the minimum etiquette of fashion that you should not disturb other people’s vision. It is wrong to think that standing out is a good thing.” - Yohji Yamamoto, on his fashion philosophy, to Prestige.
4
posted by Softel
Jun 05, 2008 11:40AM
Mmm, I agree too. Subtle differences are much more pleasing and less startling than making a concerted effort to stand out. I don't think he wants people to all look exactly the same as much as he wants us to take other people's 'vision' into consideration before leaving the house. I like the idea of this "minimum etiquette of fashion"... it should be like food or music... there is a harmony/blend/whatever... the most shocking tasts/sounds usually aren't that great once you get over the excitement of it all.
7
posted by guest
Jun 05, 2008 3:17PM
he is japanese (which explains a lot about this idea) and he has a very specific, famous and respected aesthetic that i like but i don't dress to nor could i afford. from his POV,think about it this way: if everybody in tokyo decided one day that they wanted to 'stand out' from the crowd in non-monochrome ways, everyone's eyes and head's would hurt. certainly mine would.
it's not retarded to have an opinion and its good to have an antithesis to all the other designers.
however, i do think its impossible to wake up in the morning and dress with such a philosophical idea. so in that way, he makes a moot point. lol
9
posted by etoilee8
Jun 06, 2008 1:36AM
I agree with you whole heartedly Zapatosnuevo. I wonder if Mr. Yamamoto knows to wear his clothing where I live, would be "to stand out". If he'd like to send me one of his black jumpsuits, I shall demonstrate my point by strolling down the street and counting the glares and snickers. I do get a kick out of rocking the boat. . .
11
posted by guest
Jun 06, 2008 4:03PM
i can't believe people are calling this idea "retarded". he's japanese, for goodness' sake. that entire culture is about uniformity. standing out is generally frowned upon (with the exception of japanese street fashion!). not every country holds america's view that standing out and differentiating yourself is a good thing. let's be a little less ethnocentric, ladies.
12
posted by guest
Jun 07, 2008 5:04PM
I think anyone saying rude things should probably take into consideration the fact that Mr Yamamoto is Japanese, and 'standing out', or overtly aiming to stand out, is looked upon as a faux pas in Japanese society (much the same way we might regard someone we see as 'money-grubbing' or 'brown-nosing'), notwithstanding the streetstyle images we see from Tokyo. That said, it'd be very hard not to stand out in his clothes in the place I live. I don't exactly think he's advocating that people should all dress alike, but I like the idea of harmony (though as long as what I wear is ok in my own eyes, I'm not too buggered about anyone else's).
13
posted by gen
Jun 09, 2008 7:09AM
Severe. But I see his point. Softel's point about subtle differences is a good one. What Yamamoto's talking about is avoiding visual noise. As other people said, that's a huge part of classic Japanese visual ideas. If everyone started dressing like fluoro club kids and harajuku girls and gothic cartoons, not only would our eyes hurt, but the collective individualism would be swallowed by the resulting noise - you'd just have a human patchwork in which no one pattern stands out, and it'd be ugly to boot. I think Yohji's point is mainly a theoretical one - maybe he can live that way, but he knows not everyone can. But he offers an extreme - without extremes of opinion, we're left with a shorter spectrum of ideas.
posted by zapatosnuevos
Jun 05, 2008 11:05AM
hmm, so does that mean since I live in Michigan, I should wear American eagle cargo shirts with a button down from hollister and white new balances with white socks? Ya know, just so I don't stand out.