Yohji Yamamoto: Historic Fashion Initiative
- Filed under: Alternative Lifestyle, Famous, Fashion, Fashion Week, Fendi, Kiss Bloggs, kissfendi
- Date: Feb 23,2008
Yohji Yamamoto, who will show his new autumn/winter collection in Paris on Monday night, has announced details of a historic new initiative in China, which will benefit his new Fund for Peace.
In April, Yamamoto will stage a gigantic fashion presentation of his Y’s collection at a World Heritage Site in Beijing.
The as yet unnamed site has been listed by UNESCO since 1987 for its outstanding cultural importance to the common heritage of humanity.
The ground-breaking event, on April 24th, is being organised jointly with the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and marks the first time the CPAFFC has worked together with an overseas privately-owned fashion house.
Yamamoto is working on a new 60-piece Y’s collection of men’s and women’s wear for the show, each of the designs being a one-off.
Two days after the show, the clothes will be auctioned at the Beijing Hotel with money raised going to the Yohji Yamamoto Fund for Peace.
The fund’s objective is designed to foster creativity amongst China’s new generation of fashion talents.
Under this scheme, a Chinese designer will be chosen each year for a two-year course of study at a fashion college in Japan or Europe and a male or female model will be selected to make their catwalk debut at the Paris prêt-a-porter season.
Yamamoto plans to fly in an entire cast of models for his Y’s fashion gala. The Y’s collection is Yamamoto’s original line, first launched in 1977.
Since that time, the avant-garde designer’s fashion empire has expanded to include a main Yohji Yamamoto men’s and women’s collection; the Y-3 sportswear collection for men and women, created in collaboration with adidas, which currently has 10 stores in China and a further 10 to be opened by the end of this year; a handbag and luggage line in conjunction with Mandarina Duck; and Stormy Weather, a jewellery range created in partnership with Mikimoto.
Last season, a collection by Limi Yamamoto, Yohji’s daughter, was launched in Paris. /telegraph.co.uk
