Y-3. Spring 2021 - Paris

 

(Images:  Y-3.  All credit)

After, in my opinion, Yohji Yamamoto's doomsday cult like show that occurred in Paris at the tail end of part 2 of looming lockdown's and the beginning of what could be  a more damaging second wave of Covid-19 – maybe seen as, in an unnerving way, an expose of a designer who may not be understanding or disinterested in the severity of the pandemic that is continuing to sweep across the world in continued waves.  Crowded runway of models walking side by side, within the grand Hôtel de Ville setting, it was probably the most elaborate show post the first major Covid wave, which Yamamoto has now toped at the very cusp of another contagious sweep across Europe.  It was called out as an irresponsible action from the master designer. For the full review: "Yohji Yamamoto. Spring 2021 RTW - Paris".

The issue that fashion designers have in light of the window of opportunity between the 1st and 2nd wave of the virus is to now adjust the industry that may have to forgo runways shows indefinitely.  For the most part the Spring 2021 shows that occurred, for a handful that, without discriminating on stature, were some of the older more established designers and brands that stubbornly preferred to offer a packed, audience masked and in some cases unmasked, runway show with models.  It was the organizers, who remained anonymous, pre Spring 2021 for Milan and Paris, who were quoted in saying that it was nightmare in setting up the live runway to ensure the audience were social distance and enforcing masked wearing for a live show.  This points to a last gasp to maintain profitability in a crushing blow from the start of the first global quarantines when supply routes were shutdown.  After Louis Vuitton recent closing for Paris Fashion Week at their La Samaritaine department store, the visualized exuberance maybe on offer to the Chinese buyers, who have slightly come alive lifting the LVMH group share price for handbags.  This bizarre dichotomy of the factory to the world, China, which is also the West's luxury consumer, could be the reinvigorated bet that most conglomerates are banking on, to which the autocratic system of China is pandering to, by, and one has to be skeptical of their infection numbers, saying that have contained the virus and also have a workable vaccine.  A strange world of human folly.  With a virus that couldn't care less. 

Yamamoto's twenty year relationship with the sports company giant Adidas, has, since I have been reviewing his shows of the last ten years, portrayed, at times, an aesthetically tenuous relationship with the mega company.  But it has been Yamamoto's cyber-goth stylizations as a sell point that have been emulated by a many designer thereafter.  Which all owe Yamamoto's visualizations as a figurehead of the neon-Tokyo post dystopia landscape.  With a pandemic that is showing no signs of abating, the fashionable aspects of a post-collapse society may ring true, but does the reality attached also offer a relevance?

The youth may take up the mantle, which might sound hopeful despite the widespread irresponsibility in the shadow of the pandemic, realizing how significant a Covid-19 world will be to which Yamamoto's collection, a far cry from his Spring 2021 signature show, also reflects a responsibility under his Y-3 banner.  Yamamoto has refined the textures for this latest collection as a lookbook presentation, which has come across as a more crafted and defined regalia than previous season offerings.  

A mostly black array, layered and protective, with masks throughout, although a sports collection, in the two decade of Yamamoto's tenure, he has infused the sculptured styles of his designer brand name, however this collection falls  short of its intention.