YOHJ jun viv: A/W 13

I'm calling it early here with two more shows in the triad to go, but Mr. Yamamoto is hereby awarded The Best Collection of the Season award. He simply pushed every single one of my buttons. And while that may come as no surprise, my favorites below may be...Be still my beating heart.

(Photos via UK Vogue)

YOHJ jun viv: S/S 13

Yohji Yamamoto's S/S 13 collection symbolizes the modern woman's struggle to be successful in a capitalist society while still maintaining a connection to her inner goddess. Just kidding. Mr. Yamamoto's collection is the first one I've truly liked this season, particularly as he has, yet again, managed to maintain his established aesthetic while bringing in some new elements (raw edges, anyone?). I'd wear it all, in one form or another. 

(Photos via Style.com)

2012: YOHJ JUN VIV (Part 1*)

Yohji Yamamoto is the greatest designer alive. There, I said it. He's made me love red, for goodness sake (I already loved royal blue, thanks to my elementary alma mater). And his collections result in the most photo-heavy posts on kOs. I just can't help myself - the pictures speak for themselves. Sigh.

(Photos via Style.com)

*Please note that I hope the latter two contributors to the semi-annual YOHJ JUN VIV posts will keep up their end of the deal so I can provide Parts 2 and 3, but there are no guarantees.

Yohji Yamamoto, S/S 12

Mr. Yamamoto had so much going on in his S/S 12 that my head is spinning a bit. Or that might be from the CLR fumes at work. Anyway, whilst going through the thirty-six looks, I kind of forgot that I was looking at one designer's collection, as I was seeing some Victor & Rolf, Vivienne Westwood, Comme des Garçons, Gary Graham, Chanel, and Cindy Lou Who. In short, there's something for everyone to like (and, yes, if you're the glass-is-half-empty kind of person, something for everyone to dislike). And I really like these. I particularly feel the need to have a skirt that's business in the front, party in the back.

(Photos via UK Vogue)

Still

1) Nearly a full year after laying eyes on Konrad Parol's pea coat version, I still love the idea of a coat/cape hybrid. This one (squint to see) is from the F/W 11/12 collection of Italian designer Barbara Bologna's AREA label (found via Queen Michelle's post today). By the way, do you think that whole braid is real?

2) I still love the S/S 11 collection from Yohji Yamamoto. Still ridiculously expensive even on the end-of-season rack, but more tempting after seeing multiple angles of these pieces on LN-CC.

3) Still love this song from Canadian duo City of Glass. Not that the song is that old, seeing as the EP (The Diving Bell) just came out in June, but the new video reminded me how much I like it. These are stand up guys that I'll always remember after sharing a pretty much magical evening in Vancouver years ago with them, a couple of their college mates, and my man. The details of how we all got from place to place are now all a bit fuzzy, but I do know that bowling was involved. Possibly also zombies.

4) Which reminds me: I had the NJAL page of (Central Saint Martins) fashion grad Marina Beresford bookmarked because I liked this dress/look and the fact that Marina titled her collection after (the film version of) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Now that I look at them together though, I think that looped skirt is what made the S/S 11 Yohji collection resurface in my mind (you can see the denim version of the Yohji skirt here). Hmm, I suddenly would like a loopy skirt.