I absolutely adore Comme des Garcon’s stuff, but on the other hand I wouldn’t wear most of it. For me as a rookie designer, I question whether I want to make clothes primarily for art, or function. So far, function has won out, but designers like Rei Kawakubo make me reconsider.
“In fashion, it was the year of the Japanese. And no one in that ultrasensitive land, where every stitch can set off an earthquake, rattled more sake cups than Rei Kawakubo—not even her talented compatriots Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto. From Paris to Tokyo her followers are striding about in Kawakubo’s mournful, strangely cut garments, black socks and rubber shoes. Rei’s critics hold the 41-year-old designer responsible for perpetrating a formless, asexual look. “Her clothes don’t touch or mold the body,” complains traditionalist French designer Sonia Rykiel. “There’s a lack of softness.” But Rei’s supporters credit her with some of the most startling and influential designs out of Japan today. “Rei is an original,” says Bendel Vice-President Jean Rosenberg. “She is a master of intricate cuts.” n Kawakubo, the most radical of the new wave of Japanese designers, pronounces Western skintight garments “quite boring,” adding, “I design for women who are beyond that.” What sort of woman? “The bag lady of New York,” Kawakubo replied fliply when asked by Women’s Wear Daily.
Rei’s now historic advance on the West took place only two years ago. Her first show in Paris caused one of the biggest furors since Stravinsky introduced The Rite of Spring. Like Stravinsky, Rei coolly mocked conventions—shredding and poking holes in skirts, tops and dresses. In the U.S., where her clothes still baffle the uninitiated eye, Rei’s success is growing rapidly. She now has outposts in nine U.S. cities, with her own boutique in Manhattan’s breathlessly fashionable SoHo district.
If Kawakubo is oblique when it comes to discussing her work, the tiny (5’1”) designer is positively opaque when it comes to her personal life. Where did she grow up? “In Tokyo.” What did her parents do? “Nothing special.” What kind of clothes interested her as a child? “I don’t remember.” And so on.
It is known that Rei was the only daughter of an educator. She received a fine arts degree from Tokyo’s prestigious Keio University in 1964. She worked as a stylist after graduating, and in 1973 she started her own company, Comme des Garcons (French for Like the Boys). Rei is characteristically vague when it comes to explaining why she chose that name, but what’s in a name? Begin with the $30 million plus in sales Comme des Garcons is expected to pull in this year.
Profits, Rei insists, are not foremost in her mind. Maybe; maybe not. One thing is certain. Kawakubo, who is unmarried and lives alone, has clearly dedicated herself to shattering fashion icons. Now that the rest of the world is into holes and tears, Rei is moving on. At her spring-summer show in Tokyo last month, unsmiling models with a white streak on one cheek marched down the runway in garments dripping with gathers. And while the collection was Rei’s most formfitting to date, it was also the most asymmetrical, with uneven hems and sleeves. Once again Kawakubo is upsetting the status quo. “I am in my own world,” says the revolutionary of Japanese fashion. “Any person creating something wants to do better and better. I’m never satisfied. There’s no end.”
Rei’s now historic advance on the West took place only two years ago. Her first show in Paris caused one of the biggest furors since Stravinsky introduced The Rite of Spring. Like Stravinsky, Rei coolly mocked conventions—shredding and poking holes in skirts, tops and dresses. In the U.S., where her clothes still baffle the uninitiated eye, Rei’s success is growing rapidly. She now has outposts in nine U.S. cities, with her own boutique in Manhattan’s breathlessly fashionable SoHo district.
If Kawakubo is oblique when it comes to discussing her work, the tiny (5’1”) designer is positively opaque when it comes to her personal life. Where did she grow up? “In Tokyo.” What did her parents do? “Nothing special.” What kind of clothes interested her as a child? “I don’t remember.” And so on.
It is known that Rei was the only daughter of an educator. She received a fine arts degree from Tokyo’s prestigious Keio University in 1964. She worked as a stylist after graduating, and in 1973 she started her own company, Comme des Garcons (French for Like the Boys). Rei is characteristically vague when it comes to explaining why she chose that name, but what’s in a name? Begin with the $30 million plus in sales Comme des Garcons is expected to pull in this year.
Profits, Rei insists, are not foremost in her mind. Maybe; maybe not. One thing is certain. Kawakubo, who is unmarried and lives alone, has clearly dedicated herself to shattering fashion icons. Now that the rest of the world is into holes and tears, Rei is moving on. At her spring-summer show in Tokyo last month, unsmiling models with a white streak on one cheek marched down the runway in garments dripping with gathers. And while the collection was Rei’s most formfitting to date, it was also the most asymmetrical, with uneven hems and sleeves. Once again Kawakubo is upsetting the status quo. “I am in my own world,” says the revolutionary of Japanese fashion. “Any person creating something wants to do better and better. I’m never satisfied. There’s no end.”
— January 2, 1984- People Weekly
Most pics from [http://fuckyeahcommedesgarcons.tumblr.com]
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