Y-3 : The Day Yohji Yamamoto Met Adidas

It is March 10, 2001, in Paris. Night has already fallen, the venue is packed to the brim, and everyone is eagerly waiting for the show to begin. An armada of photographers is posted along the side, the entire press is in attendance. Azzedine Alaïa is also among the guests he has come to see the work of his old friend.

The models are backstage. Everyone is rushing around, making sure makeup and hair are ready on time, everything has to be perfect.

Even though nearly 25 years have passed since this major show took place, at that time Yohji was already a well-known and firmly established designer, respected for many years.

The show begins… surprise, Yohji in sportswear, sorry ??

Well, sportswear with nuance : always paired with craftsmanship, a couture sensibility, and atypical cuts. Still, it takes everyone by surprise.

Yohji Yamamoto Fall 2001, we will remember it. It almost feels like a provocation. Adidas is highly present in this Yohji show, which feels somewhat unreal at the time. That said, let’s put things into perspective : Jil Sander & Puma had already started working together by then, and Neil Barrett at Prada had not hesitated to push very sportswear-driven collections a few years earlier.

Nevertheless, for long-time followers of Yohji Yamamoto, there was plenty to be surprised by not necessarily in a negative way, but surprised by this perfectly executed blend. Yohji didn’t simply present tracksuits. We were given draping, sleeves hidden within folds, volume, skirts layered over trousers, and a real exploration of fabrics. Adidas & Yohji made a powerful statement.

Not to mention the shoes from this show, which are still considered historic today. The Yohji Yamamoto x Adidas Tenet Flower was introduced on this runway, a design straight out of another planet, with rose prints unmistakably carrying Yohji’s signature.

There were also boxing shoes reworked by Yohji himself, a big fan of martial arts, he even has his own dojo, as a side note. And then all the other pairs, each with a truly distinct identity. Whether in the textiles or the footwear, you can really feel how the worlds of Adidas and Yohji merge seamlessly. You could almost think they had been working together for many years, the result feels that mature. But don’t be mistaken the very notion of Y-3 did not exist at that time.

The show ends on the 54th look : a draped sailor-style dress with Adidas’ three stripes, a short coat with a wide open collar in a technical fabric, sunglasses, a visor, and a veil that turns into a wedding dress without forgetting the pair of Adidas sneakers featuring a front panel that almost makes them feel like a two-in-one shoe.

But to understand how Y-3 was born, we need to look at what happened before this show. Why did Yohji take such a 180-degree turn ?

Yohji Yamamoto : I made a phone call to Nike, directly. I talked to them and their answer was very sharp and straight “No, no, no. We will never make that. We are doing only sportswear.” 

Yohji Yamamoto to Susannah Frankel (Another Magazine) : “I was creating outfits for the Paris collections. About 15 years passed and then I felt myself becoming too far from the street. I felt that the things I was designing didn’t work on the street. So I was interested in sneakers, sports fashion.“

I made a phone call to Nike, directly. I talked to them and their answer was very sharp and straight “No, no, no. We will never make that. We are doing only sportswear.” 

Yohji Yamamoto : Next I looked at Europe, at Adidas. I made a phone call to Adidas and immediately they said yes, “Yes, we can do that together. Why don’t you come to our office ?” So I went, bringing eight outfits, and I made a very small fashion show in the Adidas company. I did it because I felt I had walked too far from the street.

The three stripes are so charming and at the same time so strong. In the black, putting three white stripes, it’s very strong. I was excited by that.

Source : myclothingarchive

Yohji Yamamoto simply felt the need to reconnect with the street. Nike could have established a historic partnership with the designer, but in the end it was Adidas that seized the opportunity. A pattern we’ve seen many times, sometimes it comes down to very little…

But for now, still no Y-3 on the horizon…

October 5, 2001, we’re still in Paris. Yohji Yamamoto presents his Fall 2002 show and guess what… Adidas is there again. We’re slowly starting to get used to it.

Once again, the magic happens. Yohji perfectly integrates Adidas into his world. This show is an explosion of colors and materials, with a lot of patterns and a strong Japanese influence, traditional dresses, the use of sashiko…

The very distinctive makeup is also part of this explosion of color. Despite all of this, there is still plenty of black, with many deconstructed suits, misshapen hats : a very Yohji show.

But it’s also the shoes that I want to draw your attention to : the presence of the Floral Mules Slip-On in several colorways, the Prajna in a low version or as boxing shoes in a country-inspired mood, and the Adidas Mei Taekwondo. A model originally designed for Taekwondo is used by Yohji Yamamoto as a highly fashion-forward shoe, reworked in his own way and renamed the YY Mei Brocade. Adorned with brocade a very noble fabric each pair is unique due to variations in the pattern of the material.

Source : myclothingarchive

Source : myclothingarchive

Every single pair in this show, without exception, is incredibly beautiful and precise. These are designs that continue to inspire to this day, we saw it recently in a collaboration with Brain Dead, just to name one example.

Adidas released certain pairs with Yohji Yamamoto in limited editions. One particular model was produced in 50.000 pairs worldwide and sold out in no time. Adidas quickly understood that Yohji Yamamoto was not only a powerful image asset, but also a designer who could move product.

After this second show and a few product releases, Adidas decided to appoint Yohji Yamamoto as creative director of the new Y-3 line. Y for Yohji, and 3 referring to Adidas’ three stripes. At the time, Adidas was projecting a potential business of 300 million dollars for this new line.

Source : myclothingarchive

Yohji Yamamoto to Susannah Frankel (Another Magazine) : In Japan you see the three stripes everywhere, on trains and on the streets, high school kids and college students all wear adidas. It was more than surprising.

It was more like, “How can I make my creative life without this ?”

That’s why I asked my assistant to call adidas. In the beginning we just wanted to borrow some ‘3 stripe’ trainers from adidas for my A/W 2001 show. I was sure that they would refuse and was pleasantly surprised when they said ‘yes.’

Then we started discussing with their designers how sportswear for the future would look, and decided that we would need high-tech fabrics, bright colors, fashionable silhouettes. In short, everything the full-price prêt-a-porter collections had. And that is how Y-3 came about. More things were added : accessories, hats, bicycles, footballs. The original has not changed : looking good, feeling good.

The first official Y-3 show took place on October 7, 2002, presenting the Spring 2003 collection. That day, the biggest partnership between a sportswear brand and a designer was born. The rest is history…