Y-3 F/W 17: Behind 13 successful years of couture sneakers and sportswear - Men's Folio
Style

Y-3 F/W 17: Behind 13 successful years of couture sneakers and sportswear

  • By Ian Lee

Thirteen years is a lifetime in today’s fashion world – designers rarely last that long at any house in the cut-throat business, and diffusion labels shutter and get revived so quickly that it’s sometimes dizzying just to keep track of them. That is where Y-3 comes in to buck the trend: Yohji Yamamoto’s collaboration with Adidas has lasted that long, and is still going strong. Even the designer himself has admitted that he’s perplexed by the spin-off label’s continued success.

For its Fall/Winter 2017 collection, Y-3 consolidates and sticks to its winning formula. The garments are reliable, dark and textured (cue intentional holes, loads of technical materials, and asymmetrical detailing) sportswear pieces that are meant to be layered. Worn together, the separates make resulting looks that are more than the sum of their parts – especially when the sneakers are futuristic cool with high-cuts, multi-panels and chunky soles. But this time, Y-3 also gets in touch with nature (Yamamoto has always had a soft side): deep greens and digital forest prints find their way on vests, parkas and track jackets.