For Y-3’s fall collection, Yohji Yamamoto continued to work on accommodating the body’s movement with as much ease as physically possible while maintaining a healthy fashion component.
This season, the Adidas tie-up offered followers a fresh melding of sportswear codes — those vertical stripes, in the most obvious example — with a sparse rendering of Yamamoto’s layered universe that will likely draw newcomers to the label. The result was a lineup of relaxed sportswear, decidedly elegant, decidedly sporty.
The designer mined three decades — the Sixties through the Eighties. What looked like a gymnast’s warmup jacket from the Eighties was stretched down to the thighs in a roomy yet handsome rendition of a familiar silhouette.
Y-3 Men's Fall 2019
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An optical trick came in the form of a nylon jacket — it seemed to start out as a sweater on top, but the knitwear gradually faded, giving way to a classic windbreaker, gathered at the sleeves.
Yamamoto’s select use of color proved effective. The lineup started out mostly in black and white — or ivory — punctuated with the occasional patch of red. A flower pattern morphed into something psychedelic, adding swirls of greens, oranges and blue, applied to a series of relaxed jumpsuits embellished to look like a bomber jacket with separate track suit bottoms. He used the same pattern to make an ankle-length dress that looked like an elongated jacket — the stretchy waist pulled to the bottom and turned into a hem.
Brand references entered a new graphic realm, and included a chunky, intertwined Y and 3, figuring prominently on a loosened take on the letterman’s jacket.
In the footwear department, sneakers were mostly clean and dressy. The Y-3 ZX Torsion model gave a futuristic look to the 1984 running shoe and the Adidas Mangostin took on a new life as the Y-3 Manja racer sneaker.