The back of Yohji Yamamoto's show featured a rough sketch of a near-naked man, complete with the scribbled caption 'I'm for rent.' Who's for rent? Yohji himself? After all, he's getting borrowed from and ripped off left, right and centre at the moment.
One got the sense, however, that rather than looking inward Yamamoto was extending his gaze wider, across masculinity as a whole to consider what it really means to be a man. It's an apt theme for his label - there is a certain machismo to what he does. All those suits, shirts and coats haven't been affected by the gender-bending and feminising that's going on elsewhere in fashion. In keeping with that machismo, Yohji was pushing a deliberately dated, almost humourously nostalgic feel, evident in the retro soundtrack featuring the James Bond theme - fact fans will enjoy that the theme of ownership and credit that currently surrounds Yohji, thanks to all the 'homages' to his work from young designers, is relevant to that song, the authoriship of which is still contested and debated.
One suit came with glittering braces hanging loose at the back, others covered with a print of paint - it seems that the Yohji man is a bit of a peacock or a showman like Bond himself. Some of the final looks came with another scribbled drawing - a man and his dog. Man and best friend - what a traditional, almost quaint symbol of masculinity. But then there's something old-school about Yohji himself - the original master of now such a popular, almost ubiqituous style. The ultimate man - Yohji.
