Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2026
Yohji Yamamoto turned the runway into a quiet act of rebellion this season. For Fall/Winter 2026, the Japanese designer staged his show around two boxing speed balls, suspended at the centre of the catwalk, which models engaged with in their own way — a punch, a kiss, a gentle bow. It was performance as metaphor, an invitation to release emotion rather than contain it. Backstage, Yamamoto spoke about “emotion” as both subject and practice, suggesting that the world might be simpler if we expressed what we felt instead of masking it. The result was a collection that moved like poetry through restraint, each look heavy with intent yet light in movement, as if built to absorb life’s impact rather than deflect it.
The clothes were unmistakably Yamamoto: layered, oversized and tactile, shaped by the kind of imperfection that only he can make beautiful. Heavy-duty trousers came with reinforced knees, coats were constructed from thick, weathered textiles, and suiting appeared as a new kind of armour — practical, grounded, quietly powerful. Splattered prints mimicked the residue of work and time, while intricate felting created the illusion of accidental dye stains. In a few futuristic turns, glossy fabrics caught the light like liquid metal, blurring the line between protection and performance. The palette stayed in his signature range of charcoals, olives, and ink-blacks, but here they felt lived-in, textured by memory.
By the show’s end, it was clear that Yamamoto’s message was not about combat but endurance. Fashion, for him, remains a deeply human exchange — one that recognises fragility as strength. His models, dressed in garments that looked both worn and revered, moved as if they had weathered a lifetime in a single walk. Each step became a reminder that beauty is not found in perfection, but in persistence. And as the final patchworked coats emerged, stitched together like survival stories, Yamamoto once again reminded the audience that there is nothing more radical than feeling deeply in a world that tells you not to.
