Fragrance house

Yohji Yamaoto

Yohji Yamamoto established Y’s in 1972, presented his first Tokyo collection in 1977, and launched the Yohji Yamamoto label in Paris in 1981; the first menswear collection followed there in 1984. Yohji Yamamoto Inc. was established that same year. The brand’s public creative identity is associated with oversized and unfinished garments, asymmetry, deconstruction, dark distressed clothing, and challenges to conventional ideas of gender and the body. Yamamoto’s work also extended beyond fashion into film, opera, dance, and the adidas collaboration Y-3, for which he became creative director in 2002. In October 2009, Yohji Yamamoto Inc. sought bankruptcy protection and entered restructuring backed by Integral Corporation. Yamamoto said he had lost ownership of the firm while continuing as its designer. A 2011 Victoria and Albert Museum retrospective presented three decades of his work across fashion, film, photography, performance, and other collaborations. He introduced the brand’s first perfume, YOHJI, in 1996.