Yohji Yamamoto Quotes

I think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things humans make, I want to see scars, failure, disorder, distortion.

Black is modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy - but mysterious. [...] But above all black says this: 'I don't bother you - don't bother me'

With my eyes turned to the past, I walk backwards into the future.

Start copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy you will find your self.

A beautiful flower does not exist. There's only a moment when a flower looks beautiful.

Clothing doesn’t lie, it shows everything.

Fashion cannot make you sexy. Experience makes you sexy. Imagination makes people sexy. You have to train yourself, you have to study, and you have to live your life.

Colour disturbs people. I am confident in black, not in light. This dark side of life is attractive to me forever and from the beginning. I am a lazy designer when it comes to colour.

Dirty, stained, withered, broken things seem beautiful to me.

It meant something to me – the idea of a coat guarding and hiding a woman’s body. For me, a woman who is absorbed in her work, who does not care about gaining one’s favor, strong yet subtle at the same time, is essentially more seductive. The more she hides and abandons her femininity, the more it emerges from the very heart of her existence.

I hate fashion. Or the word fashion, which sounds colorful, extravagant, expensive and gorgeous. “I never wanted to walk the main street of fashion. I have been walking the sidewalks of fashion from the beginning, so I’m a bit dark.

My role in all of this is very simple. I make clothing like armor. My clothing protects you from unwelcome eyes.

The more we possess, the more distant we grow from God.

Fashion is only complete when it is worn by ordinary people who exist now, managing their lives, loving and grieving.

You can say that designing is quite easy; the difficulty lies in finding a new way to explore beauty

Men's clothing is more pure in design. It's more simple and has no decoration. Women want that. When I started designing, I wanted to make men's clothes for women. But there were no buyers for it. Now there are. I always wonder who decided that there should be a difference in the clothes of men and women. Perhaps men decided this.

I want to achieve anti-fashion through fashion. That's why I'm always heading in my own direction, in parallel to fashion.

A pair of brilliantly cut cotton trousers can be more beautiful than a gorgeous silk gown.

I always want to have a new challenge involved. I need to put myself to the test, and if I make mistakes, it doesn't matter. What matters to me, instead, is making my dreams come true and putting them on display.

To be modern is to tear the soul out of every thing

Just listen to the material. What is it going to say? Just wait. Probably the material will tell you something.

Black is modest and arrogant at the same time.

If you feel strongly about someone, go up to them. Pursue what you want in life. Why be shy about something like that?

In order to create an image almost similar to that of a pencil case standing up and walking, I try to eliminate all excess by cutting. I have the feeling that this process (of "cutting off") is linked in some way to "elegance". Elegance and so-called "eliminating excess", or the beauty that remains after excess has beeen eliminated...

Beautiful things are disappearing every day.