Yahoo Lifestyle Yohji Yamamoto Creates a Team of Power Puff Boys
It’s been damp and rainy all week in Paris, so what better time to show puffer jackets, trousers — and spats — in all their glory? Yohji Yamamoto’s show was like a big hug, or a teddy bear cuddle, on a cold winter’s night. But it still managed to look chic.
The designer had a lot on his mind for fall 2025, and it emerged in a show that was focused on warmth, protection and busting boundaries.
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Models were covered head-to-toe in warmth. Clothing was puffy, baggy, yet elegantly quilted, with suits made from wool check, slubby cottons and roughed-up velvet. Three-quarter-length trousers were paired with puffy spats, while boots were black and stompy.
Why all the padding?
“Winter is very cold and I wanted to make beautifully quilted down,” the designer said. “Down jackets are usually made of polyester, and they look so cheap. I wanted to make them special, and elegant — but it wasn’t easy to do.”
While Yamamoto’s silhouettes may have been robust, they were also romantic, with prints resembling faded paint drips or wisps of smoke. They ran down the backs of jackets and the sides of hefty cargo pants that could have doubled as ski wear.
Yamamoto said the dripping paint prints and the references to water in the slicked, shiny fabrics that appeared toward the end of the show were meant to conjure “people walking in the rain, or the snow, in Paris or Tokyo.”
Some of the clothing had typically esoteric phrases written on the back, such as “Despair is the conclusion of the fool,” and “Sadness and suffering are the flowers of life.” It would be wise to consider those words more as decoration than philosophy.
Many of the jackets and coats were reversible. On the runway, models clustered together and helped one another turn their quilted jackets inside out to reveal plain wool fabric on the other side.
The colors were divine: olive green quilting with burgundy felt lining for a long coat; purple check wool for a hefty suit, and plaid suits with chain details for a punk edge.
Yamamoto bucked another trend, too, using a lineup of artists and other creatives as his models. Among them was Hugo Marchand, the French ballet dancer, and the husband-and-wife artists Luc Tuymans and Carla Arocha.
“I’m very bored with [the usual] models. What you saw were ordinary artists, singers and painters — they are always attractive,” said Yamamoto, delivering another shot of warmth on a cold winter’s night.
Launch Gallery: Yohji Yamamoto Men’s Fall 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection
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