Y’s

Y’s for men returned in February 2023 ahead of Autumn/Winter 2023–24 delivery, reviving the historical 1979 brand after a thirteen-year suspension. The current studio leader was not publicly named.

KAYO NAKAMURA by Y’s established a named footwear, bag and accessories programme within Y’s from about Autumn/Winter 2014–15. The public record documents recurring line authorship through at least Spring/Summer 2021 without identifying Nakamura as overall Y’s director.

The named Takeshi Kosaka by Y’s Pink Label programme appeared for Spring/Summer 2014 after Kosaka’s earlier responsibility for Y’s Pink Label. It formalised his delegated line authorship within the Y’s studio.

Risa Matsushima began RISMAT by Y’s for Spring/Summer 2014. The line gave her bounded public authorship inside a house whose principal Y’s collections remained attributed to the atelier team.

Y’s expanded its named internal lines through RISMAT by Y’s, Takeshi Kosaka by Y’s Pink Label and KAYO NAKAMURA by Y’s. The programmes made individual design and product responsibilities visible without replacing the main line’s collective atelier attribution.

Risa Matsushima became Y’s chief creator as the label moved to publicly stated atelier-team direction. Her documented role made her the strongest named leader inside the new system, though no source confirms that she still held it after 2018.

From Autumn/Winter 2012–13, Y’s publicly placed its design and atelier team at the centre of seasonal authorship while retaining Yohji Yamamoto’s founding philosophy. The shift was a studio mandate rather than a conventional named succession.

Y’s for men was suspended after Spring/Summer 2010 and its menswear activity was consolidated into the Homme system. The historical brand was not permanently closed and returned thirteen years later.

Michiko Suzuki’s experimental Y’s project developed into Y’s Red Label and entered public collection presentation for Spring/Summer 2008. The line made a patternmaker’s delegated authorship visible inside the broader Y’s system.

Yohji Yamamoto established Y’s for men in 1979 as clothing for the man beside a woman wearing Y’s, drawing on forms from his own wardrobe. The line predates and remains distinct from the eponymous Pour Homme collection system introduced in 1984.

Yohji Yamamoto founded Y’s in Tokyo in April 1972 as a ready-to-wear business built from his mother’s dressmaking practice, early atelier labour and national wholesale sales. The foundation belongs to Y’s, distinct from its first public show and the later eponymous Paris line.