a/w '85-'86 catalog, first of a series of works produced in collaboration between photographer noboru morikawa, stylist atsushi okubo, and creative agency diamond head's. a young tadashi kubo, longtime right hand man and design director of yohji yamamoto, can be spotted in the 7th photo, second from left.
"The first time I worked with Yohji Yamamoto was for the AW ‘85-‘86 Y’s for men catalog.
I was contacted by a member of Yohji’s team, who said: “Before we give you the job, we would like you to come and meet Yohji once.”
So, I went for an interview in Shibuya. I was waiting there nervously, when suddenly he appeared. He said to me: “that’s a very elegant jacket you’re wearing.”
Then, he told me “Please feel free to work with whatever photographers and art directors you please. You can work however you like.” And that was the end! (laughs)
To be honest, I felt an immense sense of pressure. After that, I got in contact with Yokoyama of DIAMOND HEADS INC. and my friend Morikawa, a photographer who I had worked with many times in the past, and we got to work right away.
Actually, when I received the job offer, a version of the AW ‘85-‘86 catalog had already been created by someone else - to the point where it had already been printed and was ready to go. However, it seemed that this was being rejected because somebody wasn’t satisfied with the finished product. When I saw the pile of rejected catalogs sitting at the Yohji Yamamoto headquarters I thought: “If my catalog ends up like that, I’ll be in trouble.” (laughs)
We had to overcome a lot of challenges on the day of shooting. I was set on doing something different to anything I had ever created before. We went to the abandoned military air base in Fuchu in the western suburbs of Tokyo and built a tiered stage, where we shot a group of 48 models as they walked around in natural daylight. The problem was that it was raining on the day, and our studio was destroyed by the wind and rain. But actually, there was a great atmosphere after the rain stopped, and it ended up being a really cool shoot."
