‘The infinity of tailoring’ was how Rei Kawakubo summed up her stellar, ambitious, and at times emotional fall 2013 collection for Comme des Garçons.
The classic men’s suit, the kind you’d find on Saville Row, was the foundation and from that basic building block came endless variations:
Murray Hill: home to bro bars, trendy Thai restaurants, residential high rises containing young upwardly mobile professionals, and…Comme des Garcons?
The Obama family’s holiday weekend was full of fun (and cute fashion moments) for the ladies of the White House. {HuffPo}
Want more Grace Coddington? Here she is talking about her new memoirs with Sarah Mowers. {Vogue UK}
Here are ten up-and-coming designers to keep an eye on. {Refinery29}
Anne Hathaway’s extreme makeover for Les Miserablès didn’t stop at her drastic weight loss; she says her haircut made her “look like [her] gay brother.” {US Weekly}
Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo has created two scarf collections for the heritage brand, WWD is reporting. Though, whether Hermes’ signature scarf will even look like a scarf once Kawakubo is done with it remains to be seen.
Crush was the single word that the house offered by means of an explanation.
There are no ‘nice pants’ or jackets or coats from this spring collection from Comme des Garçons but there are ideas to think about as one left the show. The central question of the show, I think, is: What exactly is the function of real fashion design in an age where there are so many clothes and so much information?
Our menswear contributor extraordinaire, Long Nguyen, co-founder and style director of Flaunt magazine, has just wrapped up the menswear shows in Paris. Check out his review of Kim Jones’ nautical-inspired collection (think surf not sailing) for Louis Vuitton; Riccardo Tisci’s usual but nonetheless thrilling collection mixing themes of sex, the Gothic, and Catholicism; and Rei Read more →
In advance of Comme des Garcons‘ Rei Kawakubo receiving the CFDA’s International Award this Monday (she’ll accept the award in absentia), Cathy Horyn’s written a great, justifiably hagiographic profile about the reclusive and enigmatic designer in today’s New York Times. “No living designer with the exception of Azzedine Alaïa is held in higher esteem by her peers, and none has enriched our spirit in so many original and confounding ways,” she writes. That’s high praise from Cathy Horyn. Also, true.
Kawakubo has a cult following–for evidence see this charming Style.com piece about Comme devotees. And remember when Tavi Gevinson famously rapped about her?
Horyn really gets to the core of why Kawakubo has garnered this cult following and why she is so compelling. “If Karl Lagerfeld is the leading talk artist of fashion, Ms. Kawakubo is the Mona Lisa,” she writes. “She makes no effort to reveal her meanings, though at times she explains her methods.” She asked her about her design method and reprinted her lengthy emailed answer in full because, “[i]t says everything, and it could not be said better.” Here it is (and for everyone who thought her last collection was about flat fashion in the Internet age, you thought wrong):
We figured it was a long shot but we were really hoping that Johnny Depp would actually show up at Monday’s CFDA Awards in some fabulous fedora-plus-tiny scarf-plus pinstriped suit-plus arm party get up to accept his style icon award. Alas, it is not to be.
Johnny Depp will pick up his award in absentia as he is currently on location in the Navajo Nation filming The Lone Ranger, WWD is reporting. Comme des Garçons‘ Rei Kawakubo, who is set to receive the International Award, will also be a no show; she’s busy prepping her June 29 men’s show in Paris.
Rumor: McQueen: Savage Beauty Going To London? A McQueen spokesperson said there have been tentative talks with some London venues but an official announcement will be made if/when they reach a decision. Though there’s no comment from the Met, this sounds like something, if not the exact exhibit, is in the works! {Telegraph}
Elle and H&M One-Day-Only E-Commerce: Starting at noon today you can buy four looks from H&M’s fall collection on Elle’s website. An H&M spokesperson said it’s a preview of their full e-commerce launching next spring. Don’t worry if it sells out though–the full fall collection hit stores in two days. {WWD}
Models In Film: Gemma Ward and Dree Hemingway Cast In Films: Ward was recently cast in the upcoming production of The Great Gatsby (fingers crossed for her as Jordan), and now there are reports that Hemingway will star in the film adaptation of Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You alongside Lucy Liu. The fall cinema lineup is looking good! {Modelinia}
Rei Kawakubo Isn’t Excited About Fashion Anymore: She told the Wall Street Journal that “there are not enough of us believing in the same thing, that there is a kind of burnout, that people just want cheap fast clothes and are happy to look like everyone else.” I somewhat agree. {The Cut}
Behind-The-Scenes Of A Vogue Nippon Photo Shoot: Editor Anna Dello Russo posted a great series of photos from a very Dolce and Gabbana-heavy shoot. Sequined pants, anyone? {Anna Dello Russo}
Long Nguyen is the co-founder/style director of Flaunt.
PARIS–Soft and romantic are never words used to describe a Comme des Garçons show, which often requires intensive focus to understand the complicated creative process behind the seemingly difficult to wear clothes. But those words precisely describe the collection designer Rei Kawakubo sent out into a small darkened room near the Gare de l’Est.
Saved for the models’ wet sheen, the side kiss curls gracing their temples, and the occasional large multicolor crowns on their heads, the show combined key elements from the staple of CdG’s signatures, like the mixed prints and checkerboards in shiny grey silk nylon as well as red and fushcia fabrics that recalling the patchwork of scarves stitched into a dress from this fall’s “Hybrid fashion” women collection. A long cotton shirt dress in fuchsia or black was shown with jackets and coats as the new underpinning for next summer.
In today’s collab-happy times, joint ventures (particularly on the high street) are a dime a dozen. But when we learned that legendary animator Matt Groening, the man behind both The Simpsons and the late-70s comic strip Life in Hell, was launching a capsule line with Comme des Garçons, we were intrigued.
While the fashion flock boasts some interesting characters, to be sure, cartoons and couture have seemingly little in common. Turns out, however, that Groening was quite familiar with Rei Kawakubo‘s avant-garde designs long before the pair partnered up.
Fashionista contributor Long Nguyen is the co-founder/style director of Flaunt.
Enclosed in the envelope with the invitation to the Comme des Garçons show last Saturday afternoon, which took place inside a small hall at the Hôtel de la Monnaie, was a small printed card. “Comme des Garçons will have extremely limited seating this season. This is Kawakubo’s design; please kindly understand that your regular seat will not be possible. Thank you.”
And so it was: At the show, there were only two small bleachers and two rows of chairs, which formed a square for the models to traverse perpendicularly to and from one corner.
At any Comme des Garçons show, it is always the fashion that matters, not the hierarchy. It was ironic that a note was sent to the few people invited asking them, in essence, to temporarily suspend their habits. By the time the sound of footsteps on the wooden bleachers ceased and the first model walked out in a long, shiny, black python print trench–without any back but instead tied together at the shoulder–the audience knew they were in for a fashion treat.
