These recent images from Yohji Yamamoto are so appealing to me, I could practically eat them. The girl’s Snow White coloring is an idealized version of how I like to imagine myself. The clunky Docs combined with the feminine lines of the clothes is a classic look at this point, transcending punk but still recalling Vivienne Westwood. I also love it because it’s the opposite aesthetic of what I grew up with in California: the tan surfer-girl look.
While the Morticia look came naturally to me, I’m aware it can’t work forever.
But here’s what I don’t want to evolve into:
No no no no no. It’s just not on. I’ll be wandering around in a long nightgown before I go Biker Granny. Let’s hope. If you see me at 80 years old, rocking the Biker Granny, please kill me with a swift blow to the back of my head. Thanks in advance!
i loved this show. and that granny is kind of a badass
The kabuki/morticia makeup is so striking
I do like granny’s shoes…
The first ones need Helena Bonham Carter’s hair to reach utter perfection and our Granny looks pissed off – prolly because that looks like a minimalist Michael Jackson outfit they gave her to wear. Not even bondage trousers.
Maybe she wanted the blow-up sunbed skirt.
I love everything about that top image.
I loved the Yohji show too! Except the few moments when it veered off into ‘hot goth girl at the renaissance fair’…but I never love an ENTIRE runway show so that’s to be expected.
I’m with you on the biker granny, but wouldn’t a granny who dresses mostly in some of the more austere yohji pieces be wicked cool? I’d sit down for a brandy-spiked tea with that granny any day of the week to talk about Louise Bourgeois, experimental architecture, and the reasons that ‘Sea’ is not classy regardless of her footwear price point. Because Yohji granny would have a lot to say on those subjects…and she keeps plenty of Brandy on hand for just such a tea party.
I know you can pull off this granny’s look. Quite positive of it, actually.
Biker granny no — Morticia granny suits you & is something I aspire to as well (One of my fav Addams Family episodes was when Morticia fancied herself an interior designer…”walls, black, drapes… No not black, off-black!”
That’s (the first Yohji) is my esthetic since the 80’s. My mom and I used to go to the galleries in Soho, and the first time I saw people that looked like that it clicked in me that I found my look. I always say that I want to look like a black and white photo. Love the juxtaposition of the tough boots with the drapey fabric and the red lips. What’s nice about it is that it never goes out of style and it is incredibly comfortable. My lucky daughter has that coloring naturally. My husband and I used to call her Snow White when she was younger.
I don’t know if I agree with your feelings about biker granny. If she is being true to who she is, then why not? If you put it on and it feels like you, then it is you.
If Biker Granny loves what she’s wearing I think it’s all good; wear what you want, wear what you love. Those Yohji looks are phenomenal. I would wear both of them, yes, even the inflatable skirt. But then I aspire to be a crazy old lady one day.
Biker Granny doesn’t look all that comfortable to me. I can see her in beautiful, flowy, light, expensive, gorgeous fabrics in rich colours and a big, wise, smile on her face.
ahahahaha biker granny. amazing. put some fingerlove gloves, ostentatious rings, and a poofy neck scarf on her and she’s a female Karl Lagerfeld.
I think if it was paired with a colorful long skirt you would look age appropriate. I really don’t like that pool chair skirt.
I don’t like Biker Granny’s shoes. Not on men or women. Probably because I owned a similar pair once and didn’t like them on me (and didn’t find them comfortable either).
If I ever see you wearing either of those other two outfits, Sis, I will kill myself and then come back and haunt you!
(Er, do you happen to have Gran’s number by any chance, she looks – what’s the word? – ah yes, cool, I believe you say ‘over there’? I just know she would adore my Long Johns.)
Like top picture, but yellow skirt – not so much. I agree with Sonja – biker granny just doesn’t look comfortable 🙁
i dare anyone to read your blog and keep a straight face! i love it!!!! you always have me in laughter.
Love your style ladypants!
xx
Wish I had granny’s bone structure.
Sonja I think she looks very elegant and I’m sure could do chiffon and floating dresses with aplomb.
She and I share the same colour hair and not much else but it’s something to aspire to.
The first image is now my wallpaper.
You know, no matter how hard I try I still can’t picture you in a long nightgown or Biker Granny. However! I CAN picture you as an 80 year old sporting the first image to the local grocery.
I’m too much the aussie beach bunny girl to ever really get that first look – it’s just so far removed from my vibe. I kind of like biker granny though.
I don’t think the older woman pictured looks ‘biker’ at all. She looks pretty bloody good to me!
I like it all, and I think Biker Granny looks pretty fierce. I’d take her over the polyestered, helmet-headed, florally deranged old ladies around here any time!
*sigh*
I still remember his AW08/09 collection (the one where the girls looked like they belonged in a Japanese motorcycle girl gang) with much love.
And any collection that does floaty dark clothes with shoes that, if they could communicate, would probably say “my wearer will kick your arse to next Monday if you so much as LOOK at her the wrong way so keep your pervy hands to yourself” automatically has dibs on my soft spot.
(also, I’m biased- Yohji cast my favourite footballer of all time in an ad for Y-3 this season and had him kick a ball into the crowd at the show last year, I’m as starstruck as the next girl and it’ll take a while before anyone outdoes that)
Also, I like Biker Granny’s clothes- the problem with that picture is the expression- the “where’s my Chanel suit, did someone make off with it while I was stuck in the changing room trying this on?” look on her face doesn’t do much for the clothes. You’d make a better Biker Granny than Biker Granny herself.
At first glance, I thought the top pic was of you, swathed in noir retro gear for a lovely Halloween party or in “Frozen” video mode… one of the scant few songs I enjoy from miniscule Madge. Aside from giant, Tammy Wynette, teased, sprayed, blonde locks, that look was me in the 80’s. I like the melding of ultimate feminity, sophistication & provocative boldness… in my 20’s I also felt the desire to dress similarly to The Cure in the event I ever accidentally ventured across them, hoping Simon Gallup would get confused & follow me home… “Oh, so sorry luv, I thought you were in the band. Mind if I stay awhile?”
I am still that pale… still adore garments in black… & still blonde, although the mane isn’t teased & spayed into oblivion each morning thereby endangering the delicate eyes of passersby who dare to venture too close to a head turn. I’ve just arrived in San Diego (1-mo ago, actually)… I haven’t had the opportunity to dress up yet, but black screams eastcoast tourist in my urban district, so all vampyra shall temporarily be retired to the recesses of the built-in closet. In my attempt to not scare the tanned, laid back local children, I did buy a bottle of self-tanner but have yet to use it… I like the look of an ever-so-slight bronzy glow but do get annoyed that when wearing multiple coats of deep, dark self-tanner, people still comment on my skin’s neon qualities… then why bother about it.
Regarding the last pic, when body shapes change & one accepts/settles/creates a new geometry, for better or worse… from pregnancy, inactivity, increased activity & a new workout program or age… the clothes need to be tweeked & modified to enhance the changes. If she’s comfy, good for her, yet, I’ve always adored attention because I’m making the clothes work, not that the clothes are showcasing me in a most precarious way or acting overpoweringly. She’s got a bit of a shortened spine, probably decreased height with age, which would be greatly enhanced by a long, clean, one-colored line… black shoes for starters, de-emphasis in the waist area by not having a white blouse stopping just there. No high-waisted trousers on one with a shortened waist… my mum makes the same choice because it’s non-binding & she focuses on color, comfort, not fashion fit. I wouldn’t shine a critical eye to it were it not a fashion ad, designed to empty consumer’s wallets. If I instead saw her at tea, I’d tell her how lovely & pulled together she looked to facilitate a smile.
The older I get, the less kook I wear, as Courtney Love calls it, just for the reasons above… even though I still fit into my Jim Morrisonesque leather trousers & whistfully long for the punky, funky Allston Beat buckled boots I just left behind. If you haven’t seen her website, you may want to give it a glance. http://www.whatcourtneyworetoday.com She’s a self-obsessed mess of a pretentious nutter whose voice & music I simply adore & even though she’d probably instantly despise me, punch me in the collar bone & scare me out of the building if she met me, I am inexplicably drawn to her & all her wounds, ailes & schitzophrenic, twisted, made-up, ever-changing tales of heartache & woe.
I’ll wear the inflatable skirt with Duffster’s long johns
Biker Granny = Charlie Watts!
@ Dru – Exactly! The look on Granny’s face is not doing anything for the clothes. I want to say that’s Mimi Weddell as Biker Granny ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimi_Weddell ) but I think she’d look more comfortable and happier in the clothes.
@MakeDo – Why must you bring up Duffster’s long johns again! I was horribly traumatized by them the first time so please stop adding to my PTSD with more mentions of them.
I’d be more with you in criticizing Biker Grandma if I wasn’t 100% sure that I will turn into some bedraggled crone-of-the-swamp type when I reach old age.
When I saw Biker Granny, I swear, I saw Karl Lagerfeld. No shitting.
I think that when I’m old, I’m going to be Hippie Granny, with long skirts and long hair, which everyone will beg met to cut. Either that or Biblical Granny. I want to cover my hair but I kept getting so much crap for it (from everyone including Muslims, who thought that I was mocking “their” tradition). I think I’ll be able to pull it off when I’m much older.
PS those girls are SOO GORGEOUS. I usually am not a fan of vampy-goth, but they took my breath away. Better not show my fiance.
I thought that was Larry King in the last photo.
Dave C – BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Make Do- Everything looks good with Duffster’s long johns.
Kate Jean – Thank you! I love you right back xo
Lizz! – Aren’t they breathtaking?? I’m still planning on Victorian Granny or Miss Havisham Granny, if I can stand to hang around that long.
Biker Granny’s shoes aren’t working. But I’m sure you’ll bring the fierce to whatever style of Granny you pick. (At least you’ve got bone structure. No matter how I feel about it, I’m going to LOOK like the soft round sweet cookie-baking German granny; genetics is a bitch.)
I tend to like Limi Feu better than Yohji, these days; an almost more subversive deconstructed conservatism. Killer work wear.
Biker Granny is the living, breathing illustration of Catherine (that’s pronounced Kat-TRINE) Deneuve’s maxim, “It’s either your ass, or your face.” And I believe it. That big bride is going to look much better when she reaches Granny’s age.
Oh I love Daphne Selfe (biker granny) met her once and she was charming and lovely – and had more energy than me! I want to be like that now.
this is insanely good!!
does this mean i have too kill you right now?
I have always have a thing for Yohji. But I’ve gotta say, I like the Biker Granny. It’s not overdone, and honestly, I’d rather look like that in 20 years than a Suburban Republican Granny. (Although I realize there are other options.)
When I click your RSS feed it puts up a page of unformatted html, is the issue on my end?