Forest is the new line of eyewear from Yohi Yamamoto, a bold new direction for the house who, in borrowing from archival pieces, have aligned the range with the philosophy of the main brand. Here, we exclusively reveal the brand’s SS20 lookbook, created by HERO editor-in-chiefs Fabien Kruszelnicki and James West.

“This season, we focused on refining the essence of the line and the materials, as the foundation.” says Joseph Porpiglia, Brand and Creative Manager for Yamamoto eyewear. “Each of the new styles revisits a silhouette or concept from the full collection, allowing our designers to introduce new signature ‘YY’ details made possible by the materials.”

By looking back to the brand’s FW15 menswear collection and the dark grungy tones that anchored it, Porpiglia and his team were able to refine the new line of eyewear. “The eyewear line is, and always will be, centered around black. But with recent seasons, lightness and softness were referenced from the YY main collection, bringing in more colour to the line. The original brief from Yohji; to consider drama, intelligence and the avant-garde, guided our design and creative direction at every step.”

This year Yamamoto have once again teamed up with London-based floral designer Yan Skates (with whom they collaborated on last year’s imagery) for the lookbook’s horticultural backdrop. “The beautiful arrangements and sets Yan produces, and ‘the spaces between’, had a really strong resonance with the concepts in the eyewear collection. With this collection taking on the theme of ‘forest’, our collaboration led to a dark, rainforest-inspired set that complimented and highlighted the frames uniquely with each shot.”

With this season’s new and dynamic direction, Porpiglia envisions this as the first in several steps towards fortifying the line. “The collection will take a more experimental direction next. We’re inspired by the earliest iterations of Yohji Yamamoto eyewear – which were robust, dramatic designs that followers of the brand remember fondly. Taking the material innovations and precision of recent collections, we’re exploring concepts around negative space, that push the boundaries of form and fit. Those archive styles, and their strong attitude, are the inspiration.”

Shop the new collection here.