Yohji Yamamoto Made Yakuza Suits Cool (Again)
In the early 2000s, self-proclaimed “Takeshi Kitano nut” Yohji Yamamoto actually became one of the Japanese filmmaker and actor’s closest collaborators.
Though you could argue that a relationship began when Yamamoto started suiting up slick all-black outfits in the ‘80s clearly inspired by Kitano’s tough-guy characters, the formal partnership began when the designer dressed gangsters in Brother, Kitano’s first feature filmed outside of Japan.
Yamamoto went on to outfit a handful of Kitano’s subsequent Yakuza films but, aside from those and a few other films, the designer hasn’t dabbled in costuming for over a decade. Yamamoto’s memoir, 2010’s My Dear Bomb, offered some explanation as to why. “Even though I’ve done it, I have some rather serious doubts about fashion designers doing the costumes for films. It is really difficult to decide the limits on how far one should go with it,” Yamamoto wrote, later adding, “The Takeshi films I like the best are the ones for which I didn’t do the costuming.”
Still, the Brother experience clearly stuck with the 82-year-old designer.
Yohji Yamamoto Pour Homme, the designer’s top-tier menswear line, is revisiting the tailoring from Brother as part of its Spring/Summer 2026 capsule. Although, as the brand points out, these new suits aren't direct remakes.
The main character in Brother, who is coincidentally also called Yamamoto and is played by Takeshi Kitano (who also wrote, directed, and edited the film), arrives in late ‘90s Los Angeles wearing dark navy, strong-shouldered, wide-fitting Yohji Yamamoto blazers paired with spread-collar shirts. By the end of the film, Yamamoto’s crew of LA gangsters is mimicking that same look.
Those silhouettes inform Yohji Yamamoto Pour Homme’s flowing black suit with prints on its blazer lapels that match those in Brother. Open-collar shirts bear similarly colorful flowers and, in one case, slithering snakes, alongside loud matching ties. Yamamoto reportedly took inspiration from Chrome Hearts’ biker jewelry when creating Brother’s bulky silver necklaces, rings, and bracelets, which return in this Pour Homme collection.
The Brothers jewelry would also later inform GOTHIC YOHJI YAMAMOTO, the brand’s silver accessories line.
The collection, released March 25, fleshes out an underrated chapter in Yamamoto’s storied career. In fact, it goes beyond its own source material — though the suits’ shapes mirror those seen in Brother, none of the shirting seen in the film is nearly as baroque.
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