Yohji Yamamoto

He was born in 1943, and is an influential Japanese fashion designer, installed in Tokyo and Paris. Cosidered a master tailor with Madeleine Vionet, he's known for his avant-garden tailoring with the aesthetics of Japanese design.

Yamamo has won awards for her contributions to fashion, including the Chevalier of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon, the ordre national du Merite, the Royal Designer for Indutry and the Master of Desig award bye Fashion Group International.

Born in Tokyo, Yamamoto graduated from Keio Univertity with a degree in law in 1966, but he gave up a prospective legal career to assist his mother in his dreemaking business, from where he learned his tailorin skillis. In Bunka Fashion College, he getting a degree in 1969.

Yamamoto debuted in Paris in 1981, in an itervie with the New York Times in 1983, he said "I think that my men's clothes look as good on women as mi women's clothig look as good on men." "When I started making clothes fon my line Y's in 1977, all I wanted was for women to wear men's clothes. I jumped on the idea of designing coats for women. It meant something to me -the idea of a coast guadring and hiding a woman's body, I wanted to protect the woman's body from something, maybe from men's ayes or a cold wind."

Hos commercially successful main line, Yohji Yamamoto (women/men) and Y's, are especially popular in Tokyo. These two lines are also available at his falgship stores in Paris and Antwerp, and at hitgh-end departament stores worldwide. Other principal lines include Pour Homme, Costume d'Homme, and the diffusion line Coming Soon. Yohji Yamamoto Inc reported in 2007 that the sales of Yamamoto's two main lines average above $100 million anually.

Yamamoto is known for an avant-garden spirit in his clothing, frequently creating designs far removed from current trends. His signature versize silhoulettes often feature drapery in varying textures. Yohji's collections are predominately made in black, a colour wich Yamamoto has described as "Modest and arrogant at the same time, black ir lazy and easy but mysterious,  au above all black says this: I don't bother you, dont bother me."

Yamamoto's work has also become familiar to consumers through his collaborations with ther fashion brands, includding Adidas (Y-3). Hermés, Mikimoto and Mandarina Duck; and with artistis genres, such as Tina Turner, Sir Elton John, Placebo, Takeshi Kitano, Pina Bausch and Heiner Müller.

Poor desisions bye finance managers pushed the brand into debts of more than 65 million US dollars in 2009, wich angered Yamamoto and led to a company restructuring from 2009 to 2010. The private equity firm Integral Corp was indefitified as the Japanese company who will restructure the Yohji Yamamoto Inc and by November 2010 the company was out od debt and avoiding the risk of bankruptcy.