YOHJI YAMAMOTO
is a Japanese fashion designer based in Tokyo and Paris.
Yohji Yamamoto published my first book of boxing, MY FRIENDS, Y's in 1987. I was very touched and thankful for my beautiful present.
Text from Yohji for the introduction of the book:
You probably are already familiar with these famous photographs introduced here.
Spending time with a well-known photographer has made me realize that the process of taking photos and printing them is almost the same as painting with oils or sculpturing. It is hand crafted work; wrestling with texture —“this white is no good, I don’t care for this black…”
But there were other problems with which I myself was wrestling. Would clothes be made to look successful if they were photographed by a successful photographer? I decided to let Martine photograph fashion however she wished. For that reason, I felt it necessary to introduce Martine’s great creativity. From works of hers taken over the last ten years, I picked out those which matched my present mood (making a selection was hard, I liked all of them). I don’t need to add that the sensuality which wells up from her innermost being tells us how moving and beautiful is that which we call the human being. I’m interested in how closely the fiction of fashion can mingle with her reality.
- YOHJI YAMAMOTO
Yohji Yamamoto's signature at the beginning of the book
Why is Martine Barrat fascinating me at this point?
I always wanted to be a fashion designer. But I also wanted to look for ways to express the turmoil and repentance of a Japanese, born in a specific time period, and in a specific place in Japan, Tokyo. In order to do that, I had to choose the path of fashion, not that of sculpture or painting.
And yet, today, I still do not know what fashion is all about. I do not want to denigrate my profession, but I know that it leaves me not completely satisfied.
Creating a piece of clothing from an image I carry inside, or as a concrete extension of a feeling, is not without purity, as a move. It is always moving and interesting. So I continue working for all the people who love the clothes I design.
I dislike however, all that comes with that profession: an endless series of struggles and competitions. In the midst of those conflicts, I have always wondered what secret bitterness I attempt to alleviate.
From the very first time I saw them, Martine Barrat’s pictures filled me with serenity. From time to time, in the midst of this reality that takes us away with pitiless speed, I collide with her photographs, as if Martine Barrat’s perspective on time and mine could not coincide.
But I feel guilty not to share her vehemence, for nothing can replace the intense relief her work brings to me.
It is not sartorial elegance her photographs teach me, but the natural elegance of human beings. Is it not what I myself have always tried to express?
In fact, I am simply envious.
- YOHJI YAMAMOTO
Pourquoi Martine Barrat me fascine-t-elle a ce point?
J’ai toujours souhaité faire ce métier de styliste. Mais je cherche aussi le moyen d’éxprimer le désarroi et le repentir d’un Japonais, né à un moment particuloier, en un lieu particulier du Japon-Tokyo. Pour cela, je devaise passer par la mode, non par la sculture ou la peinture.
Aujourd’hui encore, j’ignore ce qu’est en définitive la mode. Je n’ai pas l’intention de dénigrer mon métier, mais je said qu’il ne me satisfait pas vraiment.
Élaborer un vêtement a partir d’une image que je porte en moi, ou le prolongement d’une sensation-ce mouvement n’est pas denué de pureté. Il est souvent émouvent et il m’interesse toujours. Et je pérsevère pour ceux qui aiment les vêtements que he crée.
Pourtant, je déteste tout ce qui entoure ce métier: une suite interminable de luttes et de rivalitées. Dans ces conflits, je me suis toujours demandé quelle amertume secrète je cherchait à apaiser.
Dés a peremière fois, j’ai eprouvé devant les photos de Martine Barrat un sentiment de serenité. Par moments, au milieu de cette realité qui nous emporte àune vitesse impitoyable, je me heurte a ses photographies: comme si le point de vue de Martine Barrat et mon propre regard sur le temps ne parvenait pas à se Reconcilier.
Mais je m’en veux de ne pas partager sa véhemence, car rien ne peut remplacer l’intense soulagement qu’elle m’apporte.
Ce n’est pas l’élégance véstimentaire que m’apprennent ses photographies, mais l’élégance naturelle de l’Être humain. N’est-ce pas cela que j’ai toujours cherché à écprimer de mon coté?
En fait, je suis simplement jaloux.
- YOHJI YAMAMOTO
After publishing My Friends Yohji commissioned a book of photos of his clothes from me. He told me to go anywhere in the world, so I went to Brazil.
When Yohji Yamamoto, the famous Japanese fashion designer, saw the pictures taken by Martine Barrat that major European and American museums acquired, he decided to commission her to do this book of photographs.
The photographs collected in this book are perfect representations of trust, intimacy, love and dignity — all feelings and experiences that together illustrate magnificently the rapport Martine Barrat succeeds in establishing with all of her subjects. The serenity that emanates from them and the aesthetic pleasure they give the viewer come from the exceptional trust Martine Barrat knows how to establish with all those she takes photographs of. Beyond mere bodies, faces and shapes, this album celebrates men and women who take delight in their own natural beauty.
- MICHAEL NAUMAN
Michael Naumann was the minister of culture of Germany and after he was the head of Spiegel.
Chispita and her little protégé Erminia in the living room where they lived. Chispita asked me, “Take a picture of us!” She adopted Erminia three years ago. When the night comes and she goes to work, she puts Erminia to sleep with her little doll. Michel Cressole made her a house out of tule near the river to protect her from mosquitos. She would spend much of her time there happy. Chispita slowly told us the story of her life and about how the police would catch her on the street waiting for her clients, which were mostly lawyers and doctors. They would make a big hole in the sand and leave only her neck and head exposed, without water in the beaming sun. I remember her telling me at times she would faint due to the heat and the how hard it was to stay in the sand like that.
I dedicate the photos of Chispita and her little friend to Michel Cressole, who came to Brazil to help cook the best food for us every day.
The text above reads:
Nov, 25, 89 Writing
The world’s most natural designer; his clothes as one can see in these (Point of Light). Pictures has universal appeal to all conditions of living. My wish is that these works, of sight and form, brings joy and happiness to the seer. And those who participated in the art of transformation.
I.
In the world there are 122 different faces of race representing the universe. Here are a few of those faces. In the world of color night is the light and day is the way. Time, space, and motion in a face of space. With its joy, sorrow, hoping it want be death tomorrow. My camera and me to see, have seen in the world of light the struggle of form to materialize. These points of light cover with Yohji Yamamoto, [jeces] a story of joy and form regardless of how it was born.
II. A story of Brazil
20 know Brazil, is to know the life of (with) and (without) wishing to see my friends, the opportunity came when I was asked to seek out the most natural place where one could experience giving and sharing. The beauty and pleasure of the human being as a natural model, I chose Brazil. The 7 cities I visited, I found them all to have a place in my heart. I brought with me men and woman clothed from Yohji Yamamoto.
- Ornette Coleman
Margo Jefferson accepted to model Yohji Yamamoto clothes. We had a lot of fun.
