Yohji Yamamoto Knocks Out Model at Y3, to Thunderous Applause!

Sunny photographer Ellen Von Unwerth accepts a Valentine’s Day rose from designer Yohji Yamamoto

(**All text and photos by Susan M. Kirschbaum)

You can’t say it’s not entertaining. Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto stands out as a creative force in fashion. His high end line marries architecture with chic. And his diffusion line, Y3 — a collaboration with Adidas–  combines both of these elements in much more casual terms, with a touch of whimsy, as was evident in all the stripey bits, fabulously cut trench coats, and wrapped knits on men and women. Instead of walking the runway for final bows, the designer even  stages a fist fight with a male and female model at the end of his show at the 66th Street armory.

A good time? You betcha! Plus, one of Yohji’s male models runs over and gives my seat mate, photographer Ellen Von Unwerth a rose at the end of the show. For Ellen, life rolls  like one big ball of fun. She tells me,  she loves the shows in Paris, like Dior and Louis Vuitton, but New York fashion week — “full of shows and things”– bursts with energy. Having just finished shooting the German World Cup team in Strenesse, she wanted them to look like `ganstas’ but ended up in the pool with them.

Whoo hoo!

Yohji, designer, fighter

Runway….