Yohji Yamamoto at the V&A + dressing the bump accordingly

On a grey and rainy day like today there’s nothing better than cuddling up on the sofa with a cup of hot tea. But if you want to be a bit more active, you can always head for a fashion exhibition.

Even though I love (second-hand) clothes and shopping I tend to yawn and curl my lip in contempt when faced with catwalk shows, fashion weeks and the name-dropping of aaaaarrrhhhmazing designers.

It just bores me to death and I never learned to love the vacuous mingling and bitchy atmosphere of Copenhagen Fashion Week, when I worked as a fashion journalist.

But if there’s one designer that can get me up from the sofa it’s the ground-breaking Japanese Yohji Yamamoto. So last week I went to see the his exhibition at the V&A. It’s small but good.

Left-hand side is dedicated to a mannequin parade of some of his best designs, through the years. 9 out of 10 of his designs I would wear on the spot, and I was (almost) tempted to just tear a few dresses of the dolls and make a run for it 🙂

The right-hand side consists of a row of TV’s, showing Yohji Yamamoto’s catwalk shows  and videos about the controversial designer. Should you want to meet the designer himself, then I suggest you book a ticket for the talk on the 26th of June.

6 months pregnant or not, I felt I had to honour Mr. Yohji by wearing one of his designs to the exhibition. I only own two Yamamoto items: a skirt with a narrow waist (so that one was out of the question) and this dress:

So on it went. I had to leave the zipper half-open, but I still like the way it looks. If you want to see it in a non-pregnant state and read about where I bought it, click here.

I love how this last windblown picture reminds me of the poster from the exhibition. Noone does those avantgarde silhouettes quite like Yamamoto. They’re instantly recognisable.

Yohji Yamamoto at the V&A, until 10 july 2011.
Read more & book tickets

Japanese fashion at the Barbican

I love clothes as a form of expression, as personal style and a way to portray your personality. I have a lot of fun playing with different outfits and love getting inspiration from people on the street.

But to be honest most things surrounding the concept “fashion”, and particularly fashion magazines, bore me to death. I really don’t need anyone to tell me what to wear, and their view of “the right taste” always seems to be restricted to the latest trends from a handful of approved designers. You can never stray too far away from the mainstream and somehow everyone ends up looking the same. Whenever I occasionally flick through a fashion magazine I always close it feeling slightly inferior because I don’t have this seasons “it” bag/coat/sunglasses/boots. It’s absurd, because you can never fully catch up with all the “must-haves”. And that way the wheels of consumerism keep on turning.

I just think there are so many things in life that are more important.

But I do have a big soft spot for Japanese fashion design with its focus on timelessness, structure and crazy form experiments. So I was very happy indeed when I saw a poster at Maida Vale tube stations informing me about a new exhibition at the Barbican. It’s called Future Beauty: 30 years of Japanese Fashion and opens October 15.

The exhibition is the first exhibition in Europe to comprehensively survey avant-garde Japanese fashion, from the early 1980s to the present. I can’t wait to check it out and will let you know how it is.

What: Future Beauty: 30 years of Japanese Fashion, 15 October 2010 – 6 February 2011
Where: Barbican Art Gallery