Supreme Pulls Out All the Stops For New Yohji Yamamoto Collab
- Words Grailed Team
- Date September 14, 2020
Supreme is no stranger to a designer collaboration. From the industry-altering Fall/Winter 2017 collaboration with Louis Vuitton, to an ongoing series with Rei Kawakubo’s massive Comme des Garçons empire, Supreme’s brand is shaped as much by its extensive black book of friends and partners as it is its own seasonal offerings. When it comes to that impressive roster of collaborators, we can now add Yohji Yamamoto to the list.
A master of avant-garde fashion, Yohji Yamamoto’s—a contemporary of Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo—legacy is perhaps best summed up by Supreme itself:
“Yohji Yamamoto is one of the most influential fashion designers living and working today. A master craftsman with a rebellious spirit, Yohji’s transformative impact is felt far beyond the runway. Over nearly 50 years, he has fundamentally changed how people dress in their everyday lives.”
Founded in 1972, the Yohji Yamamoto label has been synonymous with its namesake’s love of experimentation, crafting clothing that was dark and drapey when others were injecting color and accentuating silhouette throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s. It’s exactly why ardent fans of his (and Kawakubo’s) work—often wearing head-to-toe, all-black looks—have been nicknamed “Karasu-Zoku” (Japanese for “Crow Tribe”) since Yamamoto and Kawakubo debuted their groundbreaking work in Paris 1982.
That’s not to say that Yamamoto avoided tailoring though; on the contrary, Yamamoto’s love of Savile Row suiting has informed several of his collections, often using the uniformity of men’s suiting to both examine (and, in some cases, deconstruct) the idea of what makes the human form sexy and appealing. As Yamamoto recalled in 2010’s My Dear Bomb, “[Savile Row] is where a true gentleman's appearance was decided, emerging from their common sense aesthetic. The authority of that aesthetic is buttressed by the hegemony of Europe, and we simply must acknowledge that fact when we discuss men's fashion. The question we need to ask is, 'How do we break loose of those conventions?'”
Yamamoto’s previous work reexamining the men’s suit in both his men’s and women’s collections is likely why much of the “if you know, you know” fanfare is centered around the suit in this Fall/Winter Supreme collaboration. No stranger to creating top-class tailoring itself (real heads know that the Supreme x Adam Kimmel releases are nothing short of grail-status), Supreme’s work with Yohji Yamamoto would be incomplete without offering a suit. The wool suit jacket in this collaboration features artwork by the equally influential Peter Saville (Saville notably worked with Yamamoto on his Fall/Winter 1987 catalog, shot by Nick Knight), and a drawstring trouser. Given Yamamoto’s love of loose, unconventional shapes, this makes perfect sense. The shirting—offered in black and white—also features artwork by Saville.
Of his many connections to fashion, Saville’s album artwork for New Order—famously appearing on a series of parkas within Raf Simons’ Fall/Winter 2003 “Closer” collection—have helped make his cultural contributions stretch far beyond the music world. While Yamamoto does not have a parka bearing Saville’s artwork in this collaboration, it’s clear that Supreme took cues from Yamamoto’s own famous fishtail parka to inform another artist-infused part of this collection. Incorporating graphics from the Supreme-adjacent graffiti artist Sancheeto, the offering includes a hooded zip parka with Sancheeto’s design on the front and a graffiti-style take on both the Supreme and Yohji Yamamoto script logos. The spray paint-style logos are also seen on a series of down puffer jackets, a collection of pullover crewneck sweaters and an all-over print hoodie—which also features multiple faces (including one that looks suspiciously like Yamamoto’s own visage).
This Sancheeto-designed face motif appears on what is likely to be the other major standout from this collaboration collection—the leather jackets. Offered in black and red, the leather jackets recall Yamamoto’s long history of working with this particular outerwear silhouette. No stranger to both the biker and more traditional—A-2 aviator style—point collar leather jackets, some of Yamamoto’s most beloved pieces in the archival fashion scene are his leather outerwear. While the Y’s Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter “Moto Yohji” jackets (done in collaboration with Italian motorcycle brand Dainese) are likely what spring to mind for some, we see a clearer connection between the Supreme leather jackets and Fall/Winter 1991’s “22nd Century Sweetheart” jacket (even though, admittedly, Yamamoto has been doing leather jackets adorned with pinup-style artwork throughout his career—especially in the 1990s).
Of course, the man behind one of sportswear’s most beloved and long-standing fashion partnerships—Y-3—wouldn’t team up with Supreme without incorporating some T-shirts. This collection doesn’t disappoint, using designs from Peter Saville, the logo designs from Sancheeto and two illustrations from longtime Yamamoto collaborator, Yuuka Asakura. A beanie featuring the Sancheeto logo designs round out the collection.
The collection hits Supreme’s online stores this Thursday, September 17, and lands in Japan on September 19. Keep it locked to Grailed as the pieces hit the marketplace following the drop.