History of Pitti
YOHJI YAMAMOTO
To celebrate the legacy of Pitti Uomo, we are launching a four-part video series highlighting four select designers who have contributed to the heart of Pitti’s history. The second in the series features Yohji Yamamoto, one of the most charismatic designers of contemporary fashion. Known for his avant-garde designs that powerfully blend art and craft, Yamamoto has an uncompromising aesthetic that plays with volume to make almost sculptural pieces that always feel modern.
In 2005, Yohji Yamamoto exhibited in Florence for Pitti Immagine Uomo 67. Titled “Correspondences,” the exhibition featured 90 outfits from the designer’s career throughout the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Palazzo Pitti, Florence. The museum’s collection of painting and sculpture served as the ideal accompaniment to Yamamoto’s designs, presenting an extended dialogue between the designer’s vision and works by artists such as Canova, Dupré, Fattori, Lega, Signorini and De Nittis.
“For years I hated the idea of a retrospective of my work. It meant ‘the proof of my mistakes’; all I wanted to do is fashion ‘ici’ and ‘maintenant’, that’s all,” says Yamamoto. “Last year when I was invited by Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery
I gave up my old conception about what is so called a retrospective. I started to hope I could leave something else there. This was the starting point of ‘Correspondences’.”
To celebrate the exhibition, the fashion journal A Magazine dedicated its January issue to Yohji Yamamoto as a monograph, featuring an interview between Hans Ulrich Obrist and the designer. In addition, the monograph featured art that inspires the Yamamoto universe, including the work of Zaha Hadid, Pina Bausch, and Peter Lindbergh.
The exhibition at Palazzo Pitti was followed by a separate Yohji Yamamoto exhibition at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile of the Louvre, continuing the conversation between art and fashion in Paris.
In 2005, Yohji Yamamoto exhibited in Florence for Pitti Immagine Uomo 67. Titled “Correspondences,” the exhibition featured 90 outfits from the designer’s career throughout the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Palazzo Pitti, Florence. The museum’s collection of painting and sculpture served as the ideal accompaniment to Yamamoto’s designs, presenting an extended dialogue between the designer’s vision and works by artists such as Canova, Dupré, Fattori, Lega, Signorini and De Nittis.
“For years I hated the idea of a retrospective of my work. It meant ‘the proof of my mistakes’; all I wanted to do is fashion ‘ici’ and ‘maintenant’, that’s all,” says Yamamoto. “Last year when I was invited by Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery
I gave up my old conception about what is so called a retrospective. I started to hope I could leave something else there. This was the starting point of ‘Correspondences’.”
To celebrate the exhibition, the fashion journal A Magazine dedicated its January issue to Yohji Yamamoto as a monograph, featuring an interview between Hans Ulrich Obrist and the designer. In addition, the monograph featured art that inspires the Yamamoto universe, including the work of Zaha Hadid, Pina Bausch, and Peter Lindbergh.
The exhibition at Palazzo Pitti was followed by a separate Yohji Yamamoto exhibition at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile of the Louvre, continuing the conversation between art and fashion in Paris.