Yohji Yamamoto is one of those designers who seemingly captivated the entire fashion world. Whether you’re a Japanese fashion aficionado, an aspiring ‘hypebeast’, or someone who’s been into Haute-Couture for years, you’ve probably at least once said ‘damn, I want that Yohji’. The S’YTE sub-brand of his are some of his most affordable clothing; you’ll only have to pay $65 dollars for a t-shirt instead of $300 or something like that. Yohji’s also no stranger to nerdy collaborations; you may remember his particularly cool Ghost In The Shell line. The latest S’YTE line will feature collaborative art with Kazuo Umezu, the godfather of horror manga.
There are a few different T-shirts that’ll retail for about $70 and a single zipper-down short sleeve that’s twice the price; expensive, but these S’YTE pieces are still cheap by Yohji standards. Each piece of clothing features an illustration by Kazuo Umezu as well as a single, vibrant color in the background. The motif for these pieces are ‘Baptisms’ although looking at these shirts, I don’t think Yohji and Umezu are thinking about your friendly catholic baptism. My favorite of the pieces has to be the shirt with the girl wearing the dark red dress with the crimson background; it’s the only one two feature two colors and is maybe the most striking in this collection.
You might not be familiar with Kazuo Umezu, but if I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times; there’d be no Junji Ito without him. He pioneered horror manga in the 60s and 70s and his artstyle still gets imitated and parodied to this day. In recent years, like Yohji, Umezu’s also been no stranger to collaboration, and to us, this S’YTE line makes perfect sense. It’s not the first time Umezu’s had some neat clothing made from his art-work and I doubt it’ll be the last, but seeing this iconic manga artist get some new life via one of fashion’s biggest names is a pretty cool tribute to the influential artist.
The S’YTE x Kazuo Umezu line by Yohji Yamamoto goes on sale July 11.