Yohji Yamamoto Turns Legendary Director Wim Wenders Into a Runway Model Dandy

The big surprise on the runway of Yohji Yamamoto’s Fall Winter 2024 men’s collection in Paris was the appearance of Wim Wenders. The 78-year-old German filmmaker, currently enjoying box office success in Europe with Perfect Days, walked the runway wearing classic pieces in the fashion house’s style of layering and varying lengths.

Yamamoto’s connection to Wenders dates back to 1989, when the director of Wings of Desire made a documentary about the founder of the Japanese brand called Notebook on Cities and Clothes. 

“We became close like brothers a long time ago. We share the same memory from when we were very young — the Tokyo and Berlin bombings,” the fashion designer stressed backstage at the event inside Yamamoto’s European headquarters on Rue Saint-Martin, in the heart of Les Halles.

The soundtrack featured famous songs such as Radiohead’s “Creep,” Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” and Johnny Cash’s “The Little Drummer Boy,” sung in slow cover versions. “Calm is important. I don’t want to surprise people with sound. I want to surprise them with my clothes,” said the Japanese guru of deconstruction.

Wim Wenders was given two looks. For the first walk down the runway he wore a hunting vest under a black crepe de chine coat lined with stripes, a black shirt with a high white collar and another of black silk, which made the director look like a mid-European dandy. The second time, however, he appeared on the arm of an Asian woman, with Wenders wearing an outfit comprised of an ankle-length black skirt, supported by black suspenders, paired with a white shirt with abstract floral patterns.

Also on the runway was actor and former model Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead‘s Daryl Dixon), for whom the Japanese designer chose an outfit made of one large black dress covered with fabric letters that read “Entertaining People” below the knee, “Yoyo Sale” on the back and with a large black hat covering his thick blond hair.

Notable guests seated in the front row included soccer champion Zinedine Zidane, a great friend of Yamamoto’s since he starred in the Y-3 label’s advertising campaigns 20 years ago.