Say what you will about contemporary Yohji Yamamoto — some die-hards still cling to "the good ol' days" — but it looks amazing on the runway. When Yamamoto's clothes are styled as well as they always are on the runway, barely anything can touch them.
Spring/Summer 2023 again demonstrates Yamamoto's mastery of the loose silhouette, with ample suits, coats, shirts, and trousers cut to billowy perfection. Seriously, no one does a loose taper like Yamamoto.
Yamamoto's SS23 menswear collection is, as usual, awash with color, pattern and appliqué, keeping in line with the designer's emphasis on visual appeal.
It's funny how many people still peg Yamamoto as this designer who only works in shades of black, given the vivacity of his recent work, but so it goes.
I much prefer the colorful stuff myself, but Yamamoto issues plenty of his muted staples alongside the flashier seasonal fare every year. Nothing to complain about, really.
But the fact that the Yohji collection is good isn't newsworthy alone. Instead, look down.
Every season, Yamamoto's various sub-labels riff on adidas shoes — not including Y-3, which is purely aligned with the Three Stripes — though it's uncommon for mainline Yohji Yamamoto Pour Homme to indulge.
Spring/Summer 2023 is clearly the rare exception that proves the rule.
Here, we see two wild transformations of the humble shelltoed Superstar, reflecting a mutation akin to the Superstuffed Superstars created by Kerwin Frost.
Yamamoto morphed Run DMC's preferred sneaker into massively chunky low-tops and a pair of zip-up boots, each offered in various colorways.
Both are situated on a massive, scalloped sole that curves around and explodes the base and shelltoe of a conventional Superstar, offered exclusively in black and white tones.
In fairness, it ain't clear whether this is a Yohji x adidas collab or a series of custom shoes made by a label like RECOUTURE exclusively for this presentation so Highsnobiety reached out to adidas to confirm that these are indeed an actual adidas product.
Turns out, yes, these are an official Yohji x adidas collaboration but they're only launching through Yamamoto's channels in early 2023 so they sadly won't be easy to come by outside of Japan. Shame, because they're one of the best YY x adidas team-ups to date.
