Deep Dive

Born in Tokyo in 1943, Yohji Yamamoto’s childhood was defined by war and global politics. As the son of a war widow, Yamamoto naturally rebelled against the ongoing nationalist culture and pursued the arts, helping his mother Fumi Yamamoto with her small dressmaking shop in Tokyo. The rebellion continued as he developed a passion for martial arts during his early schooling and studies at Bunka Fashion College. His relationships with karate instructor Richard Amos and dance choreographer Pina Bausch elevated his love for martial arts. Before his collaboration with adidas and the creation of Y-3, Yamamoto became a black belt in karate and began to connect his passion for martial arts to his fashion endeavors. With the sportswear titan, Yohji Yamamoto would reintroduce and redefine several silhouettes that focused on boxing, martial arts, and karate. 

Two decades later, these silhouettes have paved the next chapter of adidas Originals: a Low-Profile future.

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Growing up in the rough, gang-ridden neighborhoods of Tokyo, Yohji Yamamoto practiced judo for self-defense. He first went to Yodobashi Police Station to learn from a detective in the juvenile division. Then, when he transferred to Gyosei, a Catholic School, Yamamoto was mocked for being a weak kid. This motivated him to attend Kodokan, a head temple of judo in Central Tokyo to further his skills. However, after graduating from Bunka Fashion College and debuting his namesake brand in Tokyo and Paris, Yohji Yamamoto became too busy to continue his martial arts journey. 

Eight years after the brand’s Paris debut in 1981, Yohji Yamamoto became tired of making clothes; his weight plummeted to around 35kg (77lbs). The constant airplane rides for work were painful for Yamamoto, as work overshadowed his health. Meanwhile, an unexpected connection began to bloom: Yohji’s mother, Fumi Yamamoto, befriended a young British karate instructor who had relocated to Tokyo to train at the headquarters of the Japan Karate Association. The instructor, Richard Amos, started teaching Mrs. Yamamoto English in exchange for home-cooked meals. The more time Amos spent with Fumi-san, the closer he became with the Yamamoto household.

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In 1992, Vogue reached out to Yohji Yamamoto for an article about his life outside of the rigorous fashion schedule. Work had consumed Yamamoto, and at that point, there was little beyond work in his life – he had nothing to say. Searching for an answer, Yamamoto reached out to Richard Amos to do a staged karate performance. The shoot took place during an instructor’s class, and Yamamoto reignited his passion for martial arts. He immediately wanted to train with Amos. The first sessions began in the basement of his Tokyo home, and Yamamoto could barely get through the warmup stretch because he was so out of shape. As they continuously pushed the limits of Yohji’s body, Yamamoto rekindled his childhood love for martial arts and trained four sessions a week. He created a formal JKA (Japanese Karate Association) dojo in his home and named it Azabu-shibu. The brand’s staff joined the weekly training sessions, and Azabu-shibu slowly became a hub for the intelligentsia of Tokyo via Yamamoto’s or Amos’ respective communities. After 5 years, Yohji Yamamoto became a Black Belt in karate and established a beautiful balance between his work and his health. He utilized karate to strengthen his body and mind, falling in love with the artful tension that exists in the serious competition of the sport. 

“I prefer practicing kata (set patterns of movements against an imaginary opponent) rather than kumite (actual combat), and as I'm rather small, I like the fast katas like unsu or empi. My favorite movements are the mawashi-geri (circular kick) or the mawashi-empi uchi (circular poke with the elbow).” - Yohji Yamamoto, New York Times - Side Kick (March 2004)

Yohji Yamamoto (Source: MyClothingArchive)

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Yohji Yamamoto and Richard Amos (Source: Facebook)

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Another major influence on Yohji Yamamoto during his life journey was Pina Bausch. Born in 1940 in Solingen, Germany, Bausch was a dancer and choreographer who helped pioneer the neo-expressionist dance tradition, Tanztheater. When Yamamoto saw Bausch perform, he was in total shock. To him, she represented the perfect silhouette and essence of body movement. Bausch became a muse for Yamamoto and inspired the Spring Summer 1990 collection, fully dedicated to dance. 

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In 1998, Bausch asked Yamamoto to contribute to the 25th anniversary of her dance company in her German hometown, Wuppertal. With no hesitation, Yamamoto pitched “an improvised competitive performance between the physical expression of a dance and karate,” bridging their two worlds together in harmony. For the show, he designed outfits for each of her dancers and brought a group of martial arts experts to collaborate with the performance; Yamamoto even joined the dancers on stage to perform karate. 

The celebration was a beautiful showcase of Bausch’s and Yamamoto’s life passions. 

I-D Magazine No.184 - March 1999 - The Kinetic Issue (Yohji & Karate) (Source: MyClothingArchive)

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The new millennium introduced a unique relationship to the industry: adidas and Yohji Yamamoto. Initially attracted by the imagery of the 3-stripes of the sportswear titan, Yamamoto resonated with the philosophy that adidas continuously showcased through their commitment to ordinary people, not just fashion specialists. He believed in the brand’s philosophy of honoring their original identity and history.

Yamamoto also connected with the low-profile, minimalist silhouettes that adidas was releasing during this period. He added his own vision to these shoes, creating a new perspective on the low-profile adidas models. The first style was the boxing boot, which featured the Yohji Yamamoto signature embroidered on the lateral side panels, a Satin padded tongue, unique materials, and innovative color-blocking. They were worn by models in the FW2001 show, blending the shoe with asymmetrical blousons, wrap style dresses, and oversized tailored coats. The models were dressed for the fashion runway as well as a martial arts sporting competition. This was also one of the first times the fashion runway featured sneakers from a global footwear brand. The relationship was slowly blooming. 


Yohji Yamamoto FW2001 Runway Show featuring newly created boxing shoe (Source: Vogue)

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The adidas SM-II, later renamed the adidas Taekwondo, was a silhouette dedicated to martial arts. The original pairs, first released in 2000, featured an adidas Martial Arts logo, Made in Korea tag, a top lace above the tongue shroud for security, and the famous leather 3D quilting on the toe. The 2003 rendition of the model, the adidas Mei Taekwondo, was a low-profile split-outsole training shoe with a distinct holed tongue. These silhouettes would inspire Yamamoto to create a version named after his initials: YY Mei Brocade.

adidas 'YY Mei Brocade' captured in the adidas Archive

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adidas 'YY Mei Brocade' and adidas 'Taekwondo' captured in the adidas Archive

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adidas 'SM-II' captured at adidas Makerlab

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adidas 'Taekwondo' captured at adidas Makerlab

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adidas 'Taekwondo' Archive Blue (Source: Hartcopy)

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adidas 'Mei Taekwondo' (Source: Hartcopy)

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The adidas YY Mei Brocade featured a split-soled adidas Mei tooling with a fancy Brocade fabric upper. Each pair was unique due to the difference in the pattern of the fabric; no pair shared the same pattern. Initially featured on the runway in the Yohji Yamamoto Women’s SS2002 show, this shoe furthered the relationship between adidas and Yamamoto because this was one of the first times a lifestyle segment was introduced that bridged the gap between fashion and sportswear. Their goal was to revolutionize that relationship with Yohji Yamamoto. 

adidas 'YY Mei Brocade' (Source: MyClothingArchive)

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adidas 'YY Mei Brocade' (Source: Vogue Italia)

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The relationship started with a request for footwear for a runway show. Adidas later requested Yamamoto’s creative expertise for their athleticwear. This led to the development of an entire line, and later led to the creation of Y-3. The collaboration built the foundations for contemporary fashion athleticwear and helped establish a stronger bridge between the fashion runways and the everyday sports. While pioneering fashion athleticwear with Y-3 in the 2000s, Yamamoto became the Chairman of the KWF (Karatenomichi World Federation), an international non-profit karate organization with its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. In 2007, he provided opening remarks for the 4th KWF World Cup, an international karate tournament. Not only was Yamamoto impacting the fashion and footwear industry, he continued to develop his martial arts community.

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As adidas and Yamamoto furthered their partnership through the 2010s, the martial arts and karate references continued. For the AW2010 runway show, which took place on Valentine’s Day in the Park Avenue Armory theater in New York, Yamamoto saved his best performance for last. He concluded the fashion show with a martial arts fight with fellow designer Jeremy Scott. As they dueled in the middle of the runway stage, it brought back memories of young Yamamoto in the Yodobashi Police Station, Kodokan, and Azabu-shibu with Richard Amos. Yohji ultimately won the fight with a final karate-chop, only to be swiftly taken out by Danish fashion model Freja Beha.

Yamamoto and Y-3 have referenced martial arts in their footwear creations as well. The 2019 Y-3 adidas Taekwondo W was a laceless slip-on low-profile sneaker created for women. With a strong resemblance to the original adidas Taekwondo and YY Mei Brocade, Yamamoto approached this silhouette through the minimalist Y-3 scope. He had this same approach with the Y-3 Boxing Trainers, a shoe inspired by the classic boxing footwear staple, but reimagined with a low-top cut and low-profile rubber outsole. 

All of these silhouettes in the Yohji Yamamoto and Y-3 portfolio are vital precursors to the reintroduction of the Low-Profile family by the adidas Originals team. Styles such as the adidas Mei and adidas Taekwondo play a big role in the Low-Profile storytelling, as the branding remains consistent with the original silhouettes from the adidas archive – the minimalist approach remains the same, decades later. By embracing the legacy and history of these shoes, Yamamoto and adidas are able to tell honest, full-circle stories through their creations. These stories follow Yamamoto’s journey as a Black Belt in karate as well as adidas’ journey through martial arts and the fashion runway.

adidas 'Mei Taekwondo' from the adidas Archive

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adidas 'Spezial Boxing Boot' from the adidas Archive

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The two decades relationship between Yohji Yamamoto and adidas prevails onward. The goal was to redefine a world where fashion and athleticwear coexist in harmony– now, both partners embrace their history together to prepare for the future. 

A Future Focused On Low-Profile.


"I want to work with a sneaker company to create sneakers that don't exist anywhere else." - Yohji Yamamoto, “Sports Brands’ Fashion Style” (May 2002) via MyClothingArchive

[YOHJI YAMAMOTO & KARATE](https://www.myclothingarchive.net/miscellaneous/yohji-yamamoto-karate) - MyClothingArchive
[YOHJI YAMAMOTO AUTUMN/WINTER 2001-2002](https://www.myclothingarchive.net/yohji-yamamoto/autumn-winter-2001-2002) - MyClothingArchive
Chasing Bushido: How I Learned to Just Say Osu (2020) - Richard Amos
Adidas The Story As Told By Those Who Have Lived And Are Living It (2011) - Keith Cooper
I-D Magazine 184 - The Kinetic Issue / GRAND MASTER FLASH (1999)
System Magazine - Yohji-san (2019)
[Interview Magazine - Yohji Yamamoto (2013)](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/yohji-yamamoto-1) - Wim Wenders
[New York Times - Side Kick (2004)](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/14/magazine/side-kick.html) - Yohji Yamamoto
[Asia Nikkei - My Personal History (2022)](https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/My-Personal-History/Yohji-Yamamoto?page=1) - Yohji Yamamoto

ArtV

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Chrome Hearts has risen from the muck of Hollywood and polished itself into something greater.

Chrome Hearts: A Closer Look into a Fashion Enigma

German sportswear meets East Asian fashion. A two decade exploration of adidas, YY, and Y-3.

Elegant Sportswear: A Harmonious Partnership between adidas & Yohji Yamamoto

Letting Alan and Bê tell their amazing stories. It’s time to give them their flowers.

From Boston to the World: A Conversation With Alan & Bê Bilzerian

Exploring Raf Simons’ early furniture designs, revealing a forgotten chapter before his fashion career.

Raf Simons Corpo: Revealing the Furniture that Came Before the Clothing, Part 1

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Two decades later, these silhouettes have paved the next chapter of adidas Originals: a Low-Profile future.

Three Stripes & Black Belts: Yohji Yamamoto's Love For Martial Arts

Exclusive

Finding the joy in fashion seems to be ever more difficult as time passes. Whether it be political events, economic realities or the increasing rarity of genuine novelty within the industry, every fashion week these days is marked with an asterisk reminding us that we unfortunately still exist in the real world. Fashion, at its best, offers an escape: From showing us a new way of being, or taking us to a time that has long since passed– or yet to come – fashion can create alternate realities. Discovering and building these realities is something that Walter van Beirendonck and Kidill achieved remarkably this season. 

Walter van Beirendonck and Kidill both exist between the cracks of the luxury powerhouses that dominate Paris Fashion Week. Both disrupt traditional fashion conventions in favour of finding a counterculture that embraces the alien and the weird: Walter, a legacy Belgian brand that helped define ‘80s queer fashion and ‘90s European rave culture; and Kidill, a relatively newer Japanese label that takes its inspiration from that very same ‘90s aesthetic. Both find a unique approach to what it means to be kitsch in the 21st century.

Walter this season opted for a vision of the future. Rejecting the nostalgia of vintage fashion and bygone subcultures, the designer instead focused on idiosyncratic geometric tailoring paired with beautifully crafted knits and decorated bombers. The intent was clear — create a cast of “Alien Friends”, sent here to gift the ability to see the world in a completely new way. 3D printing and AI generation supplemented English and Scottish textiles with Dutch craftsmanship to create an aesthetic not limited by time, but space and imagination. The show concluded with an extended epilogue where the models positioned themselves on custom Walter van Beirendonck couches, flashing the peace sign with their extended prosthetic fingers. The message was well received, and one hopes that these E.T.s won’t return home.

Kidill was no slouch for theatrics either. The presentation began with a meditative drone from traditional Japanese punk rock group ‘Seppuku Pistols,’ leading into an explosive show opening of loud percussion and even louder clothing. Drawing inspiration from turn of the century Harajuku fashion alongside classic London rave and punk stylings, Kidill avoided the simple recycling of these eras with clothing that felt imagined and repurposed by William Gibson himself. In this world, colour theory has been replaced by colour anarchy, letting synthetic textures and contrasting patterns create a dynamic fashion narrative led by an unforgettable cast.

ARCHIVE.pdf contributing photographer Thian Benton Fieulaine went backstage to capture both of these eclectic shows. The images juxtapose what counterculture can look like from the east and the west, and how fashion can still make us dream– when dreaming seems more difficult than ever. 


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Thian Benton Fieulaine

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ARCHIVE.pdf had the opportunity this men’s fashion season to go backstage for two of the most eclectic shows on the calendar and capture the behind the scenes of what it takes to make a spectacle.

Welcoming the Weird: Walter van Beirendonck meets Kidill

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Spotlight

[Polimoda](https://www.polimoda.com/)'s founding values reflect the distinctive ethos of Florence’s premier fashion school. The central idea was to connect private and public actors, historically linked to the textile industry, such as the Comune di Prato, with the cultural cradle that is Florence. The school connects Florence’s rich literary, architectural, and museological resources with pathways into industry, positioning itself at the intersection of technical expertise and intellectual knowledge.

At this point, these relationships take form: the integration of [La Manifattura Tabacchi](https://www.instagram.com/manifatturatabacchifi/?hl=fr) as a space for exhibitions and the intentional focus on placing the library and documentary research at the core of the school. 

“The library, nowadays, represents for me the heart, the soul of Polimoda. That's the reason why the next plan is to move the library from the current campus building to the new one, just in front of us, to create a very strong and solid relationship between professional study and identity.” - Massimiliano Giornetti, Director of Polimoda

This conception, made tangible in the space, situates fashion literature and fashion history as fundamental to the aspirations of the contemporary designer. The possibility of constructing an exhibition discourse around fashion archives takes on meaning within the  historical and geographical narrative to which the school belongs. Giornetti further emphasizes the democratic nature of these archives: “An archive should not be something exclusive or protected; it should be open, shared, and accessible to everyone, not just fashion students but anyone with an interest in the topic.”

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[AN/ARCHIVE EVENT TWO](https://www.polimoda.com/press-area/an-archive-event-two/) is a direct embodiment of these institutional values, this time focused on more specifically defined objects: denim, and the color blue. The exhibition space and scenography, designed by the architecture studio Abnormal Studio, immediately convey, via a post-industrial decor, reflections that pay homage to the working-class heritage. This serves as the visitor’s first point of entry into the subjects they are about to engage with.

The exhibition delivers these reflections in a sober manner, through various dialogues connected to fashion archives: memory, craftsmanship, and the symbolic inscription of artifacts through time.


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The pieces from The Roy Roger’s Archive, tracing 150 years of denim history, are placed alongside Charles Fréger’s Bleus de travail (2003), contemporary portraits of young workers wearing the uniform, sometimes becoming a second skin, sometimes attempting to detach from it. A historical perspective, just a few meters away from its human viewpoint. The theme of craftsmanship is addressed by the installation Zurashi/Slipped by Rowland and Chinami Ricketts, a floating tapestry several meters high, which showcases a Japanese indigo take on the “ikat” dyeing technique. As Giornetti explained, the choice to juxtapose these elements in the construction of the exhibition is a way to create «an imaginary, poetic dialogue between a contemporary and another contemporary».

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**Charles Fréger**

The [Bleus de travail](https://www.charlesfreger.com/fr/portfolio/bleus-de-travail/) (2003) by Charles Fréger situates blue denim and work attire as tools of dehumanization, a uniforming instrument. These monotonous, cold tableaux with the frozen gazes of young manual laborers from all professions (welders, florists, carpenters, or electricians) are stripped of any contextual elements beyond a mere nod to their trade. Presented in isolation, the dominance of profession over “identity” could be absolute, were it not for the work’s emphasis on the reinterpretation, reorganization, and reconfiguration of these workwear outfits by the young men themselves. Rolled-up sleeves, slicked-back hair, piercings, tattoos, patched sections : these are moments of confrontation, zones of resistance at play. Through these minute variations, these micro-disruptions, markers of individuality emerge as the key elements of a battlefield waged against the hegemony of the denim uniform, which, in itself, evokes the industrial and economic weight borne in daily life. 

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**The Roy Roger’s Archive**

Opposite them are garments selected from [The Roy Roger’s Archive](https://www.instagram.com/royrogers_official/?hl=fr). Founded in 1952 in Campi Bisenzio and comprising 6,000 pieces, the items showcased in AN/ARCHIVE EVENT TWO capture key moments in denim history, both as a historical material and as a thematic emblem through which its trajectory can be traced. A marker of social memory, the Stronghold jacket from 1895 serves as the first landmark. Crafted from 10 oz selvedge denim and stamped with the insignia “United Garments of America,” it is accompanied by jeans from 1900, stained with wax and candle marks, epitomizing the origins of denim as workwear for miners and laborers. Also featured are Charlie Chaplin’s overalls from 1916 and the first Roy Roger’s zippered jacket, which mark the gradual transition of workwear toward aesthetic purposes. 

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As Giornetti explains, “Denim has evolved from humble workwear into a symbol of youth and rebellion, as epitomized by James Dean. This transformation shows how simple, everyday elements can become cultural symbols reflecting societal change.”

The richness of the exhibition lies in the diversity of its entry points into the subject: the Levi’s 501XX from 1905, the Lee 101 worn by cowboys, and military parkas from the 1970s, embroidered with visible repairs, illustrate a range of signifiers that have alternately become countercultural markers and wardrobe staples. 

Giornetti explains the underlying curatorial vision: “The concept behind An/Archive Event 2: Blue Revolution is not an analysis of fashion garments. The exhibition was created following a sociological approach, together with a deep analysis of the symbol that blue has represented and still represents today. In a moment when fashion is a propellant for creating strong identities, the concept of the worker stands as an anti-identity.”

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To this end, the exhibition also challenges traditional notions of archiving, envisioning: “An ‘anti-museum’, a space that doesn’t restrict people from interacting with garments. Instead, it would be a place where people can freely come, touch, study, and research the message and meaning behind every piece. This is why I refer to it as both an archive and an ‘anti-archive.”

Within the exhibition, denim is narrated as a language of belonging, disruption, and endless material reappropriation.


## Rowland and Chinami Ricketts, [Zurashi/Slipped](https://rickettsindigo.com/zurashi-slipped/)

**Can you explain to us the origin of this work?**

Rowland Ricketts : Chinami and I work with Indigo, traditional Japanese Indigo. We grow all the plants and make the dye ourselves. This work was initially commissioned by the Seattle Art Museum for an exhibition on Ikat, titled Ikad: a world of compelling cloth. Chinami is trained as an Ikat weaver. And we took her knowledge of Ikat and my work with installation and kind of put them together and came up with this three-dimensional pattern.

Many of these historical techniques and processes can seem very complicated, but in fact they're very simple. They use very simple materials, we wanted a design pattern that reflected that. We had to translate the traditional Ikat process to three-dimensional space. That was perhaps the real challenge here.

**How does the Ikat technique work, exactly?**

Rowland and Chinami Ricketts : So the Ikat process, if you look here, it’s divided into one, two, three, four, five, six sections. This is one segment. When we did the dyeing, we aligned these points to ensure they were straight. Then we bound the threads and dyed from here to there. Once finished, we unbound the white part and then slipped the yarns. That’s why the title of the work is 'Zurashi', which means 'slipped' in Japanese, and it's also the name of one Ikat technique. We then slipped the yarns this way to create this pattern. When finished, the yarns were aligned straight across.

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Samy Cheurfa

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The school takes the stance of fashion archives made accessible and touchable, creating the conditions for discourse on memory, craftsmanship, and the symbolic inscription of artifacts through time.

Polimoda, AN/ARCHIVE EVENT TWO and the 'Anti-Museum' Horizon

Luisa Beorchia

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ARCHIVE.pdf, in collaboration with photographer Angela Ricciardi, presents our exclusive backstage coverage of Ann Demeulemeester’s Spring/Summer 2025 show.