He Fa on Yohji Yamamoto

Three black garments are layered together; color has not separated them for you. To distinguish the inner cotton, the middle diagonal fastening and the outer crumpled coat, the gaze must linger on thickness and edges. This look develops from Yohji Yamamoto's vocabulary of layered black clothing, but my He Fa face retains an ordinary expression that is not quite severe enough, allowing restraint a little dullness too.

Black reduces the immediately available signposts, without reducing the things themselves. One hem is longer; enormous pouch sleeves suddenly narrow at the wrists; short, thick trouser legs keep the weight low. Each difference becomes recognizable through its neighboring relations. It makes me think that understanding sometimes comes from staying with something, rather than becoming easy automatically once enough information has been removed.

The dark burgundy line on the left chest is especially small. It may be an opening, or simply an emphasis left by stitching. I do not want to assign it a sad story in advance. The value of detail also includes not being exchanged for symbolism immediately, allowing color and stitches to remain, for a while, things one can keep looking at without yet needing their histories explained.

Asking others to slow down can also create a barrier to reading. Not everyone has time to distinguish several layers of black, nor should failing to perceive subtle differences be judged a lack of taste. If restraint admits only those who already know the rules, it becomes another kind of showing off. My clothes need to permit a direct approach: first seeing where the hands emerge, for instance, before discussing the complex layers.

So I leave both hands clearly exposed beyond the pouch sleeves. They can enter a relationship with you without first understanding all the black. Nor do I even out the coat's irregular edges; the longer hem still records material the body must carry along. Using one less color should increase the ways of approaching, rather than merely make judgments about who understands and who does not more concealed.