Yohji Yamamoto's Y-3 Finally Found the Perfect Collaborator: Yohji Yamamoto
Yohji Yamamoto's adidas Y-3 collection is one of the few designer-sportswear tie-ups with legs. Since 2002, it has continued unabated while so many other luxe-casual collaborations come and go.
And this year, Yamamoto's Y-3 finally finds its perfect partner: Yohji Yamamoto.
Y-3 Kuro (Kuro is Japanese for "black," because duh) is a new sub-label that's brings together Y-3 and Yohji Yamamoto.
If that sounds strange, it should. Yamamoto has been doing Y-3 for over two decades — how can he collab with himself?
Well, it's more of a business thing, really.
Yohji Yamamoto is both a person and a company and the latter encompasses everything from mainline clothing collections to dedicated accessories lines. Y-3, meanwhile, is part-owned by adidas and employs various design directors beyond Yamamoto himself — Aurelien Longo oversees shoes, for instance, while Lars McKinnon looks after apparel.
Y-3 Kuro, presumably, is therefore better thought of as a Y-3 collection guided by the ethos of Yamamoto's core collections, though it feels more Y-3 than Yamamoto to start.
Its debut offerings, which are soon rolling out at Y-3 and Yamamoto flagship stores, are obviously devoid of color — Poet of Black, etc. etc. — and comprise sporty classics like track jackets, tanks, beanies with co-branding.
The end result feels akin to Yamamoto's New Era collections, which similarly diffuse the Japanese designer's core conceits into approachable sportswear. Which is too bad, really, because Yamamoto has incorporated his partnership with adidas into his top-shelf collections with admirable ingenuity, implying that a Yamamoto and Y-3 crossover could push established codes into fresh frontiers.
Instead, some pretty classic Y-3 fare elevated by an artful campaign that combines all aspects of Yamamoto's world into a cohesive wardrobe. Hopefully, Y-3 Kuro will eventually do the same.
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