Aesop and Y's unveil minimalist staff uniform for Milan Design Week
Aesop turned staff dressing into part of the installation, dressing employees in a black Y’s jacket that mirrors the brand’s first lighting debut.
Aesop did not treat uniform as a footnote in Milan. For The Factory of Light at Chiesa del Carmine in Brera, the brand paired its first lighting project, Aposē, with a custom black jacket from Y’s by Yohji Yamamoto, turning the people welcoming visitors into part of the installation’s atmosphere.
The jacket is exactly the kind of workwear luxury brands keep circling back to when they want restraint to do the heavy lifting. Y’s made it with large patch pockets, inner pockets, a relaxed fit, and a light, fluid feel. Other details sharpen the silhouette rather than decorate it: a longline cut, a concealed left-side pocket, and a subtly wrinkled fabric that gives the piece movement without softness tipping into slouch. It will be worn by Aesop employees and reception staff throughout the exhibition, which runs from April 21 to April 26, 2026, open daily from 10am to 6pm.
That matters because the jacket is not just clothing for the floor. It is branding you can spot in a room. Aesop’s exhibition is built around the nature of light and the hands that harness it, and Y’s gives that idea a body, one that feels tactile, disciplined, and faintly off-center. In beauty and hospitality, where uniforms can flatten personality into neat compliance, this is the smarter move: make the staff look like they belong to the brand’s world, not like they were dropped into it by operations.
The collaboration also lands because the two names share a taste for quiet subversion. Y’s, Yohji Yamamoto’s first brand, was founded in 1972 and rooted in his long-running refusal to dress women in rigidly feminine clothes. Aesop, meanwhile, has built its identity on materials, atmosphere, and design culture that feels more gallery than checkout counter. Here, that overlap becomes visible in the most practical way possible. Aposē, Aesop’s first foray into lighting, is a limited edition of 500 made in Italy and Germany with Flos, and it sits on a table built from 16,000 repurposed Aesop fragrance bottles. The uniform echoes that same logic: workmanship, understatement, and a name on the label that already signals taste.
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