Rei Kawakubo is one of the pioneers of the famed “Anti-Fashion” movement. Arriving in Paris at the same time as other designers like Yohji Yamamoto, Comme Des Garçons has always questioned the human species, turning its aesthetics and established truths upside down in the process. A veritable purist ever since, Rei Kawakubo is this season presenting a collection with ritualistic accents – spirituality, an emotional approach, and medieval power incorporated into exemplary clothing that’s larger than life.
Also loyal to her approach of shutting herself off from beauty, Rei Kawakubo continues to explore the relationship between black and blue. When volumes become sculptures, the garment itself becomes a work of art – and then? Nothing can stop the approach, the institutionalization of a timeless posture. Spring 2017 will also mark the beginning of an exhibit that’s entirely dedicated to Rei Kawakubo at the Met in New York. In the meantime, the artist is distilling her point of view on modernity and its discomforts. And she can afford to, since after all, no Comme Des Garçons runway has ever answered to the conventions of the catwalks – wearability, seasonality, and commercialism.
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