Words: Camilla Harrison

Since its opening on March 12th, I have been working as a host at the Yohji Yamamoto exhibition at the V&A museum in South Kensington.

It is the first of its kind in that Yamamoto’s menswear is being shown alongside his womenswear garments, and this has never been seen before. The curator, Ligaya Salazar, has referred to the exhibition as a retrospective. The garments cover Yamamoto’s vast 30 year career, being shown alongside multimedia such as videos of fashion shows, past season catalogues and even highlights from Yamamoto’s music career.

What is most striking about the exhibition is that the garments are on open display; inviting visitors to get up close and personal with the fabric and cut of the clothes. Visitors can touch the garments, but within reason, only very gently and carefully! Fabric is of utmost importance to Yohji when he designs, and he is known for his idiosyncratic cutting techniques. The exhibition really allows for the garments to be appreciated like they should be.

The exhibition space is really quite striking; all the clothes are set on simple mannequins under extremely bright lights, so every inch of the garment is visible and can be admired. The mannequins are set out as if in a ballroom, with men and women on either side approaching each other to dance.

I had the pleasure of meeting Yohji when he came to see the exhibition, and he painted some figures on the bare white walls. They are all very focused on the ‘shape’ of a woman, in particular, her back. This is Yohji’s favourite part of a woman’s body, and this is clear to see when you look at the garments; many feature the most detail at the back or are backless.

This exhibition is a must-see; even those who are not fashion aficionado’s will appreciate the garments, if not only for the incredible skill and craft that can be seen.

The exhibition runs until July 12th.