Yohji Yamamoto

"Generally speaking, I am not interested in the future and don't believe in it. First, I guess it is true that I don't trust the future, but, more to the point, I don't even trust the "myself" of tomorrow, nor, for that matter, of the day after. Basically, all I know, and all I am capable of understanding, is the "me" that is here, now, the "me" that has dragged his past with him to this point."

"I think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things humans make, I want to see scars, failure, disorder, distortion. If I can feel those things in works by others, then I like them."

"In order to create an image almost similar to that of a pencil case standing up and walking, I try to eliminate all excess by cutting. I have the feeling that this process (of "cutting off") is linked in some way to "elegance". Elegance and so-called "eliminating excess", or the beauty that remains after excess has beeen eliminated..."

"Dirty, stained, withered, broken things seem beautiful to me."

"I want to achieve anti-fashion through fashion. That's why I'm always heading in my own direction, in parallel to fashion."

"My whole life is made up of: "I'm sorry". I feel like I have to apologize to people, to things, to life itself. It's like, "I'm sorry to be here". I don't want to disturb anyone. But in my work, in the clothes I create, I'm actually telling people that I'm here. So, I guess I'm disturbing them, after all."

"To be modern is to tear the soul out of every thing."

"It is also important to carefully read the cards that life deals you, and to play the right hand at the right moment for maximum effect. Having tasted a chilled champagne in a hotel suite is fine, but one should also have enjoyed a tasty glass of beer bought with one's last few coins while down and out. The breadth of experience will allow one to look into that cracked mirror, snicker, and hten tie a neckerchief into a bowtie and push back one's thinning hair. Now that would be a man with a genuine sense of style."