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remaining stock, the stuff absolutely no one in the world wanted even reduced in price by 80
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polyester-and-rayon-polluted smoke drifting over the Armistead Gardens neighborhood
and the magic spell it could possibly cast on the unsuspecting neighbors. The ecstasy of
rejection, the raptures of unavailability, and the open-sesame of Rei’s vision could turn
this beautiful downscale section of Baltimore into an international fashion mecca.
Rei, I have a wish list for you. I know you’re busy. I realize you don’t take “notes” (the
QHZQZRUGIRUDOOÀOPGLUHFWRUVEXW,MXVWKDYHVRPHLGHDVIRUIXWXUHRXWÀWVWKDW,ZRXOG
happily pay you too much money for. I hate weddings; I’ve never had fun at one in my life.
I know you’ve designed a black wedding dress with a white veil, and it was so cutting-edge
Modern Bride. But how about something for me to wear to a wedding to take my mind off
the romance pressure I feel pulsating around me? Something secret, because I’m not a rude
SHUVRQDQG\RXQHYHUZDQW\RXURXWÀWWRXSVWDJHWKHEULGH·VRUJURRP·V+RZDERXWDQ
elegant black wool Vincent Price-type suit: on the outside so seemingly conservative and
beautifully tailored, but inside lined with the fur of the mice who were living and nesting
under the hood of my car in my garage, nibbling away at the engine’s wiring harness and
causing about a thousand dollars’ worth of damage? Wearing fur coats always makes one
look like an old person, but poisoned or trapped mouse-fur lining seems politically correct
to me, especially when the same little fuckers had friends who were setting up house inside
the exterior air-conditioning compressor of my Baltimore home and chewing on the wiring.
If we hadn’t discovered these little Ben and Willard movie-type wannabes and had turned
RQWKHFRROLQJV\VWHPWKHÀUVWKRWGD\WKHVHXQZHOFRPHVTXDWWHUVZRXOGKDYHEHHQJURXQG
up by the motor fan blades and their death fumes would have been piped into my home in all
their decomposed glory. So what better purpose could their deaths have than to be recycled
as fashion? Even their little heads could be designed as buttons for the inside pockets!

Published in June by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC, forthcoming in December from Beautiful Books Ltd in the UK.
Let’s talk about the suit pants. Couldn’t they have faux “scraped knees”? You like to
see people fall down – here’s the perfect reminder for your customer of the one thing that
gives you pleasure. You’ve already done shirts with triple collars, but how about one with
an extra arm that hangs in the back under the coat that nobody but me would see or know
about? Of course the tie, an item of clothing I love and you seem to rarely design, should

B
be covered with clever soup stains. We know how hard and expensive it is to properly clean

C
a tie, so you can now charge double the price and it will still be a deal, because you’d never
have to take it to the dry cleaners.

A
My dream socks that you would create only for me would be mismatched and stretched
out with holes where the big toe sticks through (“summer socks,” we used to call these
castaways). Your belts would go around me twice and would be tested for possible
autoerotic strangulation use. It would be too vulgar to ask you to design faux “skidmark”
Copyright (c) 2010 by John Waters. All rights reserved.

underwear, so how about white boxers stained from purposely washing them with a load
of brightly colored laundry?
Excerpted from ROLE MODELS by John Waters.

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\RX·OOGHVLJQIRUPHWRZHDULQVLGHP\FORVHGDVP\ZLOOGHPDQGVFRIÀQ/LNHWKHRQHVWKH
Moe Howard look-alike, the “shoe bomber,” wore that day on the airplane. Scruffy, ugly
oxfords whose hideousness has been negated by your “relentless sobriety,” as the critics
have written. Shoes with wires and fuses hanging off them. And real dynamite inside. Scary
DQGDJJUHVVLYHIRRWZHDU²WKHSHUIHFWDFFHVVRU\WRP\ÀQDORXWÀW7KHZRUPVJRLQWKH
of
worms go out; the worms play pinochle on my snout. Now I’ll be ready to blast off into
Comme des Garçons heaven. CdG
000 000

A
ADVERTISING
Alice Rawsthorn: “Comme des Garçons’s
Shirt campaigns are a beacon of inspired
eccentricity. Since they began 11 years
ago, the ads have featured everything
IURPLFHEHUJVJUDIÀWLEOXHVO\ULFVWK
century Flemish paintings, trucks, dogs,
birds, vintage pins, cave paintings, trucks,
dogs, street photography, Pet Shop Boys’
lyrics, underground comics, punk poetry,
shredded 1970s porn, the winners of a
literary booby prize for the worst open-
ing sentences of novels, a recycled trade
advertising campaign, bizarre amateur
inventions and the self-portraits of an
unknown Danish amateur artist to –
once but only once – a bunch of people
actually wearing shirts.”
Ronnie Cooke Newhouse: “I’ve al-
ways been a big big, fan of Rei’s. I was
one of four people who started Details
magazine in the 1980s. Rei was a sort
of demigod to us, and we were one of the
ÀUVW PDJD]LQHV WR FRYHU KHU LI QRW WKH
ÀUVW LQ $PHULFD :KHQ , ODWHU EHFDPH
creative director of Barney’s (the New
York department store) I got to know
5HLDQG$GULDQ-RIIH:HVWD\HGLQWRXFK
Edited by SULEMAN ANAYA and JOERG KOCH
Alice Rawsthorn: “Perhaps because the
Shirt campaigns are conceived by a cre-
ative director who edits the contents
from ready-made imagery rather than by
the fashion designer and photographer
who produce them, the only consistent
thing about them is their inconsistency.
Yet collectively they build a compelling
portrait of the brand as well as of its
creators and the people who will wear the
clothes.”
Alice Rawsthorn, “CDG Advertisements,”
Paradis #5, Fall/Winter 2009.
ANIMAL
“I LOVE
ALL
ANIMALS.”
Rei Kawakubo in Ronnie Cooke Newhouse,
“Rei Kawakubo,” Interview Magazine,
November 2008.
7KHÀUVW&RPPHGHV*DUoRQVVWRUHLQWKH
world, 1976
AOYAMA
The Tokyo neighborhood is the origin
and continued nucleus of the Comme
des Garçons universe, where the label’s
ÀUVWVWRUHRSHQHGLQDQGKRPHWR
WKLV GDWH RI LWV RIÀFHV VWXGLRV DQG PR
ther ÁDJVKLS
ARCHITECTURE
“Architecture has been largely unable to
accept the excessive and formless nature
of shopping.” So declared Rem Kool-
haas, et al, in a well-known book from
2002. But since the late Seventies and
(LJKWLHV ZKHQ VKH RSHQHG KHU ÀUVW
WKHQUDGLFDOO\ PLQLPDOLVW ERXWLTXHV ²
one was entirely empty, a stunt others
are still repeating more than two
decades later – Rei Kawakubo has been
bringing both excess and formlessness to
architecture. Consider her store design
heyday of the 1990s and early Noughts
– a golden era of blue-dotted glass
and swooping hand-brushed aluminum
(Tokyo Aoyama and New York Chelsea,
respectively, both designed by Future
Systems); of spinning stools in shocking
red (Paris, by Ab Rogers and Shona
Kitchen); of monolithic black (Kyoto,
attributed to Kawakubo herself).
Working with other designers – or
PRUH IUHTXHQWO\ ZLWK KHU ORQJWLPH FRO
ODERUDWRU WKH -DSDQHVH DUFKLWHFW 7DNDR
Kawasaki – Kawakubo has brought to
retail architecture the same brilliantly
warped, twisted sensibility that she’s
given her fashion. That is to say, in
her hands, the body becomes just as
deformed as the space it inhabits with
the result being, often enough, elusive.
Her temporary Comme des Garçons
guerilla stores can be given credit (or
blame) for the recent pop-up shop mania.
Her Dover Street Market, with all its tin-
shack and Porta-Potty accoutrements,
blurs the distinction between department
VWRUH OX[XU\ ÁDJVKLS DQG ÁHD PDUNHW
:LWK.DZDNXER\RX·UHQHYHUTXLWHVXUH
where the thing itself begins and the idea
of it ends; her shops are less like spaces
than, well, concepts (but please don’t call
them “concept shops”).
Which is why Kawakubo has in many
ways been one of the most interesting
architects around. To be sure, her stores
have been chockfull of spatial acrobatics;
but they have just as easily disappeared.
Koolhaas may have had his “epicenters”
showing what
I thought was
strong and
beautiful. It just
happened that
my notion was
different from
everyone else’s.”
Rei Kawakubo in Judith Thurman,
´7KH0LVÀWµThe New Yorker, July 4, 2005.
“It’s a choice, one that implies a different
approach. French eroticism stands no
chance in this game, as the sensitive points
of our feminine mythology – waist, hips,
WKLJKV²DUHTXLWHVLPSO\DYRLGHGµ
French journalist on seeing a Comme des Garçons
collection in 1984, cited by Olivier Saillard, Musée
des Arts Décoratifs (Paris) 2010.
AVANT-GARDE
Rei Kawakubo believes that being avant-
B
garde has become a cliché.
BERLIN
´-RIIH DQG , VSHQW D GD\ LQ %HUOLQ DW D
Comme des Garçons ‘guerilla store,’ which
then occupied the former bookshop of
the Brecht Museum, on a seedy block in
the eastern sector of the city. It is part
of an experiment in alternative retailing
(inconspicuous consumption) which the
company launched in 2004 … Each of
the stores is an ephemeral installation
that opens without fanfare and closes af-
ter a year. Their decorating budgets are
less than the price of some handbags
at GUCCI and PRADA and original
fixtures, including raw cinder blocks
and peeling wallpaper, are left as they
are found. Brecht might have approved
the poetic clothes and the proletarian
mise en scène, if not the insurrectionary
conceit. ‘But the word “guerilla” as Rei
XQGHUVWDQGVLWLVQ·WSROLWLFDO·-RIIHVD\V
‘It refers to a small group of likeminded
spirits at odds with the majority. She’s
fascinated by the Amish, for example and
WKH2UWKRGR[-HZV·µ
Thurman, 2005.
BROKEN BRIDE
when I left Barney’s, and when I opened
my (design) studio in London they spoke
to me about working with them.’
000
ANTI-FASHION DV KH FDOOHG KLV 3UDGD ÁDJVKLSV EXW BASQUIAT, JEAN-MICHEL
“In addition to consistently creating col- .DZDNXERZDVRQHRIWKHÀUVWWRUHDOL]H
lections of clothes that challenge other that architecture, like shopping and fa- Universally admired collection, Autumn/
designers to think outside conventional VKLRQLVÁHHWLQJ Winter 2005. The audience received its
modes of production and beauty, Rei ARIC CHEN, design critic, for 032c. presentation at the Ecole des Beaux Arts
Kawakubo has also built a considerable with a seven-minute ovation. Through it,
international business. In this sense, her ARRIVAL Kawakubo remained backstage.
Tokyo
contribution could never be regarded “It wasn’t simply a collection about wed-
as outside or ‘anti’ the fashion industry, “I never GLQJVDOWKRXJKWKDWPD\KDYHEHHQWKHÀUVW
though at times its aesthetic may appear intended to start word. By breaking the rules of wedding
to be delightfully at odds with prevailing dresses, by going behind the idea, there
trends.” a revolution. was born the further information that
Penny Martin, The Power of Witches,
Showstudio, 2004.
I only came to marriage is not necessarily happy.”
Paris with the -HDQ0LFKHO%DVTXLDWPRGHORQWKH&RPPHGHV
Rei Kawakubo in Suzy Menkes, “Positive
Energy: Comme at 40,” The New York Times,
New York intention of Garçons runway; Paris, Spring-Summer 1987 -XQH
000

BUSINESS
“Unlike many fashion designers who
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RU ÀQDQFLDO FRQJORPHUDWHV .DZDNXER
is president of her own company of
450 employees and retains overall res-
ponsibility for both creative and busi-
ness decisions. Nothing she does is an
indulgence; all her work is part of a
carefully considered strategy in which
economic success is an essential part of
maintaining her creative independence.”
Sudjic, 1990.
*
“She’s in control of every facet of her
multimillion-dollar brand Comme des
Garçons« 7KLV PHOOLÁXRXV SKUDVH FKD
racterizes a philosophy of freedom when
it comes to clothing construction… as
well as presentation style and marketing
strategy.”
Dolores Slowinski, “Fashion is not Art,”
Detroit Metro Times, February 2008.
*
Margiela’s core cult customer base, even
if it managed to grow the business’ top
line revenues.
So what’s the secret to Comme des
Garçons’ success?
Kawakubo has been discreetly buil-
ding a multi-brand fashion business, all
under the Comme des Garçons banner.
From the runway collection to Comme
des Garçons Black to Play Comme des
Garçons, a healthy fragrance business
including collaborations with Daphne
*XLQQHVVDQG6WHSKHQ-RQHVDVZHOORQ
JRLQJ &G* ODEHOV IRU -XQ\D :DWDQDEH
Fumito Ganryu and Tao Kurihara,
there is plenty of choice for all types of
consumers. And all of it offers a special
piece of that Comme des Garçons spirit,
unadulterated. In short, Kawakubo has
maintained her fashion integrity, while
building an enviable global fashion bu-
siness as well.
Kawakubo once told Suzy Menkes,
Garçons is
its fashion
manifestation.
Kawakubo is a fascinating anomaly, sin-
ce her artistic practice remains legible
and assertive, even in the context of its
uncompromised commercial intent. The
disparate parts of her business – the ar-
FKLWHFWXUHDQGÀ[WXUHVRIKHUVKRSVWKH
typography of her graphic programs, the
VLWLQJ RI KHU ERXWLTXHV WKH FROODERUD
tion with artists, photographers, musi-
cians, and architects, the selection of her
employees, the unconventional models in
her runway presentations and their hair
and make-up, even her terse epigram-
matic responses in interviews – comprise
DXQLÀHGSURMHFWµ
Harold Koda, “Rei Kawakubo and the
Art of Fashion,” Refusing Fashion exhibition
catalogue, MOCAD 2008.
Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony,
Ellis Island, New York, May 17, 2010
and they were all so beautiful. She gave
me some advice on which dress would
look good on me. Kawakubo-san made
some DGMXVWPHQWV WR ÀW WR P\ ERG\ DQG
made it very special. It was such an ho-
COLLABORATION
“Not that she ever approaches such a
project as a brainstorming or a meeting of
the minds. It’s more the case of a willful
designer making a strong proposition
with a partner who brings something
new to the table, like production know-
how or distribution muscle.”
Miles Socha, “Comme and Go,”
W, September 2008.
In the playful rulebook of the house of
Comme des Garçons, collaboration has
always been a cortex for the company’s
inner sapience and variously articulated
modi operandi. Rarely logical, these mu-
tual efforts go beyond even their own
dance (Merce Cunningham with Sce-
nario [1997]); music (Seigen Ono,
Arto Lindsay…); architecture (among
many, a recent project is Kazuyo Sejima
[of SAANA] for Comme des Garçons
[2009]); media (Visionaire 20 [1997],
a “visual interview” with Kawakubo
DV WKH SXEOLFDWLRQ·V ÀUVW JXHVW HGLWRU
Vogue Nippon X Comme des Garçons
Tokyo shop, featuring Chanel [2009];
A Magazine Curated by Jun Takahashi
Undercover [2006]; Werk No. 10 in
collaboration with Colette [2004]…);
product and retail partnerships (Comme
des Garçons X THE BEATLES with
Apple Corps Ltd. [2009], Milan’s 10
Corso Como replica in Tokyo, Colette
meets Comme des Garçons, the “Paris –
Tokyo Speedconnexion,” H&M, Louis
Vuitton…); creative direction (Christian
Astuguevielle, the Comme des Garçons
PARFUMS creative director since 1992;
advertising conception with art director
As the fashion industry was being turned
upside down by the Great Recession of
2008, desperately slashing prices and
cutting costs, Rei Kawakubo chose a
different strategy altogether. She laun-
ched Comme des Garçons Black, a brand
new recession-friendly collection that
reprised the best selling styles from the
brand’s archive at honest price points.
It was a characteristically business-savvy
move by a designer who has deftly ma-
QDJHG WKH ÀQH OLQH EHWZHHQ FUHDWLYLW\
and commerciality. Loyal fans of the
brand kept coming back to Comme des
Garçons, even if times were tough and
money was tight.
Not all of Kawakubo’s avant-garde
peers have fared as well. Despite his
immense creative talent, the recession
brought Yohji Yamamoto’s business to
its knees, just before it was saved at the
ODVW PLQXWH E\ D SULYDWH HTXLW\ LQYHVWRU
On the other end of the spectrum,
IDVKLRQ JHQLXV 0DUWLQ 0DUJLHOD TXLHWO\
left his eponymous label when its owner,
Staff International, began the crass com-
mercialisation which served to alienate
000
“It is true to say that I ‘design’ the com-
pany, not just clothes. Creation does not
end with just the clothes. New interes-
ting business ideas, revolutionary retail
strategies, unexpected collaborations,
nurturing of in-house talent, all are ex-
amples of Comme des Garçons’ cre-
ation.” Perhaps this is the most important
point of all. Rather than seeing business-
thinking as a blight on the face of her
conceptual approach to fashion, she views
it as central to her creative process.
IMRAN AMED, Founder and Editor in Chief,
The Business of Fashion, for 032c
* with the Australian Institute of Sport.
“If as Andy
Warhol
proposed,
‘Business art
is the step
after art,’
Comme des
*
As Sonya Park, a stylist in Tokyo who
knows Kawakubo well, said recently,
´6KH PDNHV KHU SURÀW VR WKDW VKH FDQ
do something new the next season. It’s
always about the next project.”
Cathy Horyn, “Gang of Four,”
C
The New York Times, February 24, 2008.
CELEBRATION
“I went to the Comme des Garçons shop
in Aoyama to see if there was a dress I
could wear for the Pritzker ceremony.
And I asked one of the store salesperson
if there was anything good to wear for
the ceremony. He kindly informed that
to Kawakubo-san, and Kawakubo-san
suggested to make something special for
WKH VSHFLDO RFFDVLRQ 6KH ÀUVW VKRZHG
me some dresses from last collection
nor for me to wear that dress at the
Pritzker ceremony. I received so many
compliments from many people at the
ceremony for the dress!”
6(-,0$.$=8<2SULQFLSDO6$1$$WR032c.
Interview by Vicente Gutierrez.
CHAMPIONS
Ten world records were broken by the
U.S. men’s swimming team during the
2008 Beijing Olympics. All were achieved
LQVXLWVIURPWKH6SHHGR/=55DFHUOLQH
with graphics by Comme des Garçons.
“The suit was developed in association
NASA’s wind tunnel testing facilities,
DQG $QV\V ÁXLG ÁRZ DQDO\VLV VRIWZDUH
supported the design.” (wikipedia.org)
0LFKDHO3KHOSVLQ/=55DFHUVXLW
expected aesthetic promises, issuing
forth precise branding statements, and
opening new outlets for the label’s con-
tinuous expansion – not to mention
the added value they also give to guest
crusaders.
For more than 40 years, the company
has elaborated a myriad of surprising
and unexpected collaborative threads
that few art or fashion historians could
VXIÀFLHQWO\ GRFXPHQW 8QOHDVKHG IURP
an understanding of market-trend value,
but also somehow solely guided by Rei
Kawakubo’s progressionist love of all
things cultural, artistic, and emotional,
Comme’s collaborations are rarely exe-
cuted at the behest of others (you never
UHTXHVW\RXDUHDOZD\VLQYLWHG²VRPH
how mirroring the pyramidal structure
of the company itself). Still and all, the
list is endless …
There’s photography (Cindy Sher-
man, Daido Moriyama, Collier Schorr …);
sculpture and installation (Fischli/Weiss,
Roman Signer, Felix Gonzales-Torres…);
advertisement (pretty much all of the pre-
viously mentioned above and below!);
set design *DU\&DUG-DQGH&RFk …);
Tsugaya Inoue …DQGWXWWLTXDQWi…
Not only do Comme’s collaborations
span many enthusiastically welcomed
and established bodies of work in con-
temporary art and retail; they also in-
clude slightly unknown practices that
seem to incarnate Kawakubo’s more
personal fascinations. Illustrator Filip
Pagowski created the PLAY CDG logo,
and the highly-celebrated, successful
commercial line has gone on to colla-
borate with many more illustrators and
patternmakers. Kawakubo’s interest in
documenting ethnic identities led to
Brian Giffin’s photography of young
Georgian women dressed in CDG in
the birth village of the late primitivist
painter Niko Pirosmani (1862–1918).
Unearthing the work of female artists,
both past and present, is also a mark of
Comme and Kawakubo, and includes
000
D MRLQW HIIRUW ZLWK RQH RI WKH ÀUVW JLOG It’s all done for the simple love-value “The colour GOLD reminds her of “Du- CREATION with holes used to decorative effect: DOVER STREET MARKET
bronze costume jewelry designers, Line of the good, and for what simply has to be bai, of the Vatican and of teapots.” “At Comme des Garçons, everything is such clothes cannot be discussed in “Instead of setting up on the typical lu-
9DXWULQ²DVZHOODVDQKR done. What is seen through and depicted Susannah Frankel, “Rei,” Another Magazine #18, connected by creation: clothing design, conventional fashion terms.” xury shopping boulevards in London –
mage to the French photographer and in the eyes of Rei Kawakubo is cultural Spring/Summer 2010. graphic design, interior design, business -HVVLFD*ODVVFRFN´%ULGJLQJWKH$UW&RPPHUFH the Kings Road, Bond Street and Mount
writer Claude Cahun (1894–1954). In
1992, Ndebele artist Esther Mahlangu
created installations for Comme stores in
Tokyo, Paris, and New York.
In 1988, Kawakubo launched her
ÀUVW stunt effort in print, Six magazine,
which pushed the frontiers of art and
fashion photography to spectacular re-
sults. The publication showcased exten-
sive portfolios by leading photographers
such as Peter Lindbergh, Paolo Roversi,
Steven Meisel, and 7LPRWK\ *UHHQÀHOG
Sanders, as well as multiple portraits and
images by and of artists and designers,
including Louise Nevelson, -DPHV /HH
Byars, Gilbert & George, Azzedine
Alaïa… As an ongoing extension of Six
– and not even to mention CDG PAPER,
which is distributed to the company’s
staff worldwide – the house’s direct
mailings always incorporate the power
of art and visual culture. In 1994,
Kawakubo wished Happy New Year
to her merry followers with an image
extract the Soviet-Armenian director
Sergei Parajanov’s ÀOPThe Color
of Pomegranates. An extension of the
Mail art movement that originated in
WKH V" 3RWHQWLDOO\ %XW GHÀQLWHO\ a
recurrent statement of the brand’s philo-
sophy as a global communication vector.
And let us not forget the house’s
IHOORZ GHVLJQHUV -XQ\D :DWDQDEH 7DR
Kurihara, Ganryu, and, to an extent,
the “prodigal son,” UNDERCOVER’s
essor, and her edifying will to achieve is
by now collective legacy.
CYRIL DUVAL (Item Idem) for 032c
“For me
there’s no
compromise,
I do what I
want, and
they do
whatever I
couldn’t do
myself.”
Rei Kawakubo, W, September 2008.
COLOR
,Q -DSDQ .DZDNXER·V HDUO\ IROORZHUV
dressed in head-to-toe BLACK, were
popularly known as “the crows.”
In March 1988, Kawakubo resolutely
declared: RED is black. She illustrated
her point with a standout collection
(A/W 1988) full of virulent red.
“Throughout the 1980s, Kawakubo’s
color palette was dominated by white,
gray, and black, plus beige and navy.
The theme of ‘darkness’ was omnipresent
in her creations. Along with Yohji Ya-
mamoto, she made black fashionable…
Kawakubo’s use of black in the 1980s
ZDVVRLQÁXHQWLDOWKDWVKHLVVWLOODVVRFLD
ted with the color. However, since she
launched her red Autumn/Winter 1988
collection, black has nearly disappeared
from her work. Moreover, Kawakubo’s
color choices and combinations are at
once radical and harmonious; she seems
to have established her own chromatic
sensibility. Kawakubo returns to black
periodically. For her, black may not be
just achromatic, but a ‘color’ in its own
right.”
Fashion in Colors exhibition catalogue, Cooper
Hewitt Museum, Smithsonian, New York 2006.
strategy, marketing. All these have their
own causes and effects, and to bring them
all together as one force, one image, is
LQWHUHVWLQJEXWYHU\GLIÀFXOWµ
Rei Kawakubo in Menkes, 2009.
When we met in the 80s, that was a
time when fashion distinguished itself
with its creative muscle and while that’s
diminished now, Rei remains an excep-
tion and a tour de force season after
season. With Rei, she is all about the
work, in the way that Michelangelo
wouldn’t take his shoes off when he slept
because he felt that time could be better
spent painting - she’s in the same mold.
GENE KRELL, Fashion Director, Vogue
and GQ Japan, to 032c.
Interview by Vicente Gutierrez.
“I really felt that I was on my own. I never
felt my work had anything to do with being
a woman. I am not a feminist. I was never
interested in any movement as such. I just
decided to make a company built around
creation, and with creation as my sword, I
FRXOGÀJKWWKHEDWWOHV,ZDQWHGWRÀJKWµ
Rei Kawakubo in Lee Carter, “Connect the Dots,”
D
T Magazine, August 28, 2005.
Divide,” Grey GazetteH[KLELWLRQERRNOHW9RO
No. 1, New York University, November 1999.
“Ragged seams become ruffles. Yards
DQG \DUGV RI UXIÁHV 5XIÁHV DSSHDU LQ
unexpected places poking out of seams.
Holes in sweaters become gashes in the
ERGLFHV RI HYHQLQJ GUHVVHV -DFNHWV DUH
dismantled and turned inside-out or put
together in new ways. The inside of a
cardigan becomes the outside with the
bumpy texture of knitted roses close to
the body. Or perhaps it is the other way
around. One never knows.”
Brooke Hodge, “On the Work of
Rei Kawakubo and Comme des Garçons”,
Harvard University GSD, May 2000.
DESTRUCTION
Kawakubo titled an all-black collection
from 1982 “Destroy”. It has become
Street – Kawakubo chose a corporate
RIÀFHVSDFHRQDIRUJRWWHQVWUHHWLQ/RQ
don’s Mayfair district, which must have
been much cheaper. Since her arrival,
other brands have followed suit and,
Dover Street is now home to London
ÁDJVKLSV IRU $FQH $3& DQG 9DQHVVD
Bruno.” IMRAN AMED for 032c.
“The recent frenzied spate of museum
building has seen unfortunate compari-
sons made between these cultural insti-
tutions and shopping malls. But I love
malls the way I love museums. Comme des
Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo’s Dover
Street Market is rightly being described
as the ultimate mall. Everything she
thinks you should want is spread out over
VL[ÁRRUV,WLVWKHPRVWVXEOLPHVHQVXDO
shopping experience, carefully curated
WR LQFOXGH DQ $]]HGLQH $ODwD ERXWLTXH
a dozen Comme lines, and Terry de
Havilland shoes. Dover Street is not the
perfect mall; it is actually the perfect
museum.”
-XQ 7DNDKDVKL DUH IUHHO\ H[SUHVVLQJ
their personal vision through multiple
labels inside CDG, as well as through
retail. It starts and ends by being so-
lely about mutual understanding and
support, through which Comme des
Garçons’ global label extends as a thin-
king method into a media of savoir-faire.
This generosity brings not only econo-
mic power, but also new platforms of
expression and diffusion to the label’s
invited participants.
000
“Only someone such as Kawakubo, who legendary. Thelma Golden, Director, The Studio Museum in
has reached the deepest understanding of “The cloth scars in the form of cuts, and +DUOHP´%HVWRIFULWLFVFXUDWRUVORRNDW
the year in art,”Artforum December 2004.
monotone, has such a feeling for colour DESIGN the healing process in that of seams,
and can create such a brilliant red.” “In the Comme des Garçons fashion col- bandages, belts and zippers … The sil-
Seiichi Minzuno in Deyan Sudjic, lections, Kawakubo has offered shirts with houettes are tenderly presented and thus “I want to create a kind of market where
Rei Kawakubo and Comme des Garçons, 1990. extra sleeves and neck holes, jackets cut hide the vehemence of the intrusions YDULRXV FUHDWRUV IURP YDULRXV ÀHOGV JD
to be misbuttoned, skirts and dresses with that Rei Kawakubo makes on the normal ther together and encounter each other
For the 7th issue of 032c, “At War wildly irregular hemlines, jackets with way of tailoring dresses and suits … No in an ongoing atmosphere of beautiful
With the Obvious” (Summer 2004), Ka- slits up the length of the sleeve, jackets one can destroy his own work more be- chaos: the mixing up and coming together
wakubo contributed five variations of bearing only one shoulder, clothing with DXWLIXOO\WKDQWKH-DSDQHVHGHVLJQHUµ of different kindred souls who all share a
BLUE based on the Pantone color code exposed seams, or asymmetrical padding Ulf Poschardt, “On the Nature of Destruction,” strong personal vision.”
system. No text accompanied the plates. in unconventional places, and knitwear 032c #2, Summer 2001. Rei Kawakubo, www.doverstreetmarket.com
000

DISSENT
“The majority
is always
wrong”
Henrik Ibsen, “An Enemy of the People.”
Printed on fabrics for Comme des Garçons
E
men’s Fall 2003 collection.
ESSENCE
“Rei’s clothes have that weird mixture of
-DSDQHVHPLQLPDOLVPDQGQLKLOLVPDQG
Walt Disney”
Nick Knight, “Rei,” Another Magazine #18,
Spring/Summer 2010.
EVERGREEN
CDG Homme Plus subline introduced in
2005, since discontinued, consisting of
favorite items from past collections that
have been re-issued with slight design
alterations
“I have one of these, trust me, they’re
worth it! Their polyester fabric is very
nice and comfortable and they do so
many things with it, do it in a crisp twill,
do a warped/wrinkled treatment, etc.
I NEVER thought I would ever want to
own anything polyester but I was suprised
how much I like their synthetic pieces.”
posted by brian_w
In response to
“$1,000 for a polyester jacket? I’m try-
ing really hard to swallow this …”
Posted by birdofparadise on The Fashion Spot
online community, “evergreen” thread.
000
F H
FOUNTAINHEAD
´2QH FDQQRW ÀJKW WKH EDWWOH ZLWKRXW
IUHHGRP,WKLQNWKHEHVWZD\WRÀQGWKDW
EDWWOHZKLFKHTXDOVWKHXQ\LHOGLQJVSLULW
is in the realm of creation. That’s exactly
ZK\IUHHGRPDQGWKHVSLULWRIGHÀDQFHis
the source of my energy.”
Rei Kawakubu in Frankel, 2010.
FRAGANCE
6LQFHODXQFKLQJLWVÀUVWHSRQ\PRXVSHU
fume in 1994, Comme des Garçons has
VWHDGLO\ GHYHORSHG D VPDOO EXW VLJQLÀ
cant line of innovative fragrances, many
of them unisex. Over the years they
have included such critically acclaimed
and commercially successful scents as
Comme des Garçons 2 and, most re-
FHQWO\ :RQGHUZRRG 2GHXU  WKH
EUDQG·V ÀUVW ´DQWLSHUIXPHµ ZLWK FHOOX
lose and burnt rubber among other
un conventional notes, was released in
1998 to mixed reviews.
´2'(85 (Comme des Garçons)***
woody soapy
Historically important but artistically un-
satisfying, this fragrance started as a mi-
nimalist one-line concept-art school of
perfumery that has so far proved only
a moderately good idea. This one was
intended to smell clean and does that a
million times better than the fragrances
from the “Clean” brand which just smell
YLOH %XW LW EHJV WKH HWHUQDO TXHVWLRQ
pour-quoi pas rien?”
Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez, Perfumes:
The Guide, Viking, 2008.
FREEDOM
“Feeling free inside
oneself is being free.”
Rei Kawakubo, Interview Magazine,
November 2008.
FUN
“I duly asked her what she laughs at,
and she answered deadpan, ‘People fal-
ling down.’”
Thurman, 2005.
FURNITURE
.DZDNXER KDV GHVLJQHG ÀYH FROOHFWLRQV
RIIXUQLWXUH´&KDLU1RµIURP
was not characterized by comfort.
G
GATEWAY
Of all Comme des Garçons products,
the classic zippered wallet is perhaps
the single most sought-after item, even
by people who know little else about the
brand.
GONZALEZ-TORRES, FELIX
Candy Pieces by the Cuban-born artist
was shown at the Aoyama store in May of
1998.
HISTORY
“Ms. Kawakubo, 66, is one of the great
fashion forces from the last decades of
the 20th century to now.“
Menkes, 2009.
*
´,Q IDVKLRQ LW ZDV WKH \HDU RI WKH -D
panese. And no one in that ultrasen-
sitive land, where every stitch can set
RII DQ HDUWKTXDNH UDWWOHG PRUH VDNH
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
DQG LQÁXHQWLDO GHVLJQV RXW RI -DSDQ WR
day. ‘Rei is an original,’ says Bendel
9LFH3UHVLGHQW-HDQ5RVHQEHUJ¶6KHLVD
master of intricate cuts.” Kawakubo, the
PRVWUDGLFDORIWKHQHZZDYHRI-DSDQHVH
designers, pronounces Western skintight
JDUPHQWV¶TXLWHERULQJ·DGGLQJ¶,GHVLJQ
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
ÀUVWVKRZLQ3DULVFDXVHGRQHRIWKHELJ
gest furores since Stravinsky introduced
The Rite of Spring. Like Stravinsky, Rei
coolly mocked conventions – shredding
and poking holes in skirts, tops and
dresses. In the US, where her clothes still
EDIÁH WKH XQLQLWLDWHG H\H 5HL·V VXFFHVV
is growing rapidly. She now has outposts
LQQLQH86FLWLHVZLWKKHURZQERXWLTXH
in Manhattan’s breathlessly fashionable
SoHo district.’
´-DSDQ·V6WUDYLQVN\RI)DVKLRQ5RFNVWKH
World with her Atonal, Assymetric Sad Rags,”
People Weekly'HFHPEHU
*
Elsa Klensch: When did you first be-
come interested in fashion?
Rei Kawakubo: When I was about 24.
I’d been working in the adverstising
department of a textile company, and I
was asked to style the print ads and TV
commercials. I liked the work so much
that after two years I decided to leave the
ÀUPDQGZRUNDVDIUHHODQFHVW\OLVW
EK: Later, when you decide to become
a designer, was it because you couldn’t
find clothes you thought were right for
your work?
RK: It wasn’t so much that I couldn’t
ÀQG WKH NLQGV RI FORWKHV , ZDQWHG ,
was frustrated by the way we chose the
clothes.
EK: When and how did you get star-
ted?
RK: In about 1969 I rented a room that
was part of a Tokyo graphics design
studio and set up with two assistants.
EK: What sort of clothes did you pro-
duce?
RK: Clothes I felt were modern and new.
But they were commercial as well; I was in
business, and I had to support myself.
EK: How did you decide on the name
Comme des Garçons?
RK: I don’t remember exactly. I know I
wanted something long, something with
a ring to it. One of the people working
with me said, “How about ‘Comme des
Garçons?’” And I thought, “Why not?”
EK: Your own name has a ring to it.
RK: I didn’t think of myself as a desig-
ner. It was a business, a group of people
working together. I wanted a name that
would represent the whole group.
Elsa Klensch, “Another World of Style … Rei
Kawakubo,” Vogue (New York), August 1987.
*
KARI RITTENBACH: For a designer –
or rather, aesthete – whose otherworldly
ascent in fashion is accounted for by
QR OHVV D FUHDWLRQ P\WK WKDQ WKH ÁDWWHVW
plateau of “starting from zero” (the un-
couth postwar epithet “Hiroshima’s
Revenge” attended CDG’s earliest pre-
sentations), it is certainly apposite to
examine how Kawakubo allows herself
to be historicized after the fact. A decon-
structivist with a paradoxically tightly-
controlled image, Kawakubo toys with
cultural and historical references as
adroitly, or as murkily, as the most pro-
digious Postmodernist – and in so do-
ing has fashioned a history all her own.
But what came before the legend? What
was the reception to early Comme des
*DUoRQV LQ -DSDQ OLNH GXULQJ WKH VH
venties? (Kawakubo began producing
clothing for CdG as early as 1969.) Does
much clothing from this early period
still exist? In her New Yorker SURÀOH RI
.DZDNXERZULWHU-XGLWK7KXUPDQLVEHVW
able to describe these pieces as possibly
featuring “denim apron skirts.”
000
 AKIKO FUKAI: For Kawakubo, the Se-
venties were, I could say, her training or
trial period. She was well known among
professionals, such as stylists, fashion
journalists and buyers, who considered
her a very talented new type of designer.
In fact, we have just a few items of
clothing from her earlier period. They are
apparel, she has been careful to resist
being labeled a feminist. Kawakubo
also established herself squarely in an
industry dominated by men. How were
her early accomplishments viewed in
Japan, and has it had any affect on
gender politics in fashion there since?
,Q -DSDQ EHIRUH KHU WKHUH ZHUH DO
and strong expression, through the dy-
namic volume of form, intricateness of
construction and devotion to black in her
clothing.
What is most appealing about Comme
des Garçons to the domestic consumer?
Kawaii (Kawaii contains a feeling
as Thurman described, and based mainly
RQ´EDVLFµGDLO\FORWKHVVXFKDV-DSDQ
ese traditional farmer’s clothes made of
´$L]RPHµ -DSDQHVH LQGLJR G\H WH[WLOHV
or denim) and men’s tailored suits. They
are baggy without holes and tiers – yet a
ÁDLUIRUDQHZHUDFDQEHGLVFHUQHGLQKHU
clothing.
What was women’s sportswear or
streetwear like in the 1960s before
Kawakubo?
ready several female fashion designers
who had met with success in the business.
For example, Hanae Mori was received
as a member of Paris Haute Couture in
1978. The naming of her brand CdG is
not related to feminism but more to the
attitude that Kawkubo does not com-
promise on conventionality. She said,
”I try to create clothes by breaking away
from the clothes (or thinking) that al-
ready exist” (“Deconstruction and Ele-
gance,” interview by Akiko Fukai, Dres-
DNLQ WR -DSDQHVH YHUVLRQ RI IHPLQLQLW\
At the same time, the label’s very edgy
DQGDUWLVWLFTXDOLW\
In a 1983 interview with Women’s
Wear Daily, Kawakubo insisted: “I’m
not very happy to be classified as
another Japanese designer. There is
no one characteristic that all Japanese
designers have.” How do you respond
to this statement, today?
I agree with what she said. She can be
So-called American sportswear had
DOUHDG\ EHHQ WUDQVODWHG LQWR -DSDQHVH
women’s wardrobes in the 1960s. The
-DSDQHVHDSSDUHOLQGXVWU\KDGGHYHORSHG
enormously by learning the American
ready–to-wear fashions around that time.
Was it more difficult for Kawakubo to
control the presentation of her apparel
as a young designer? (Which might ne-
cessarily have encouraged her to show
in Paris?)
No, it was not. After having esta-
blished her own company in 1969, she
SUHVHQWHG KHU ÀUVW VKRZ LQ 7RN\R LQ
The Lunar lamp by Konstantin Grcic illuminates Comme des Garçons in Aoyama.
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Tokyo and was discreet without a too
QLFH ZHOFRPLQJIHHOLQJ EXW ÀOOHG ZLWK D
stimulating atmosphere.) Anyway, she
debuted in Paris. It was unavoidable for
her to present her works in Paris, the
only place where her works might be
judged properly, whether positively or
negatively.
Kawakubo is a virtuoso of contradiction.
The title of her women’s line is French for
“like boys,” yet for all of her androgynous
000
study 9RO  >)DOO @ 7KHUHIRUH
her accomplishment had little affect on
gender politics in fashion. In any case,
-DSDQHVH IHPLQLVWV GLGQ·W SD\ VR PXFK
attention to fashion.
Do you consider Kawakubo’s quasi-
feminism, then, to be reflected in her
designs for women, which drape and
abstract the female body rather than
reveal or sensualize it? Or is the
“style” of Comme des Garçons apparel
simply more culturally amenable to the
domestic consumer? In other words, is
her treatment of the body considered
radical in Japan?
As I mentioned before, she is not a
feminist. Therefore I think it would be
incorrect if we read her designs in the
FRQWH[WRIIHPLQLVP+HUGHVLJQUHÁHFWV
WKHLQGLJHQRXVQRWLRQRI-DSDQHVHFORWK
ing (the kimono, for example) that it is
not necessary to obey the body’s form,
in contrast to the Western notion that
clothes should obey the body’s form; in
other words, clothing has the autonomy.
,QWKH-DSDQHVHWUDGLWLRQFORWKLQJWHQGHG
to conceal the body line rather than reveal
it. Therefore Kawakubo’s treatment of
WKHERG\GLGQRWVKRFN-DSDQHVHSHRSOH
But what shocked them was her fervent
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I am sure that any creators – whether
designers or artists – can’t escape from
WKH LQIOXHQFH RI =HLWJHLVW RQ WKHLU
works; the circumstances, the time, and
of course the culture.
What do you consider Kawakubo’s
relationship to history? Would it be
wrong to question the veracity of her
claiming a starting point of conceptual
“absolute zero”? That later Comme
des Garçons collections have riffed on
countless historical references (Magritte’s
The Red Model of 1935 or designs by
Elsa Schiaparelli, for example) certainly
indicates that fashion and art history –
and not only contemporary culture, high
or low – maintain a certain significance
for her.
,QIDFWLQ.DZDNXERFXUDWHGD
small fashion exhibition entitled “Essen-
ce of Quality” by mixing KCI’s historical
costumes with her works in Tokyo. As
she said, “I can’t create without being
inspired by nothing.” She knows about
art history and fashion history. But in her
work, the relationship to the history is
ambiguous; it is not simply revisiting the
past. She catches elements of inspiration
000
with her sensitive antennae and absorbs
them. Then she restores them to the level
of “zero”, where her own creation starts.
Western journalists have used adjec-
tives like “esoteric,” “severe,” “tricky,”
“fer vent” and “innovative” to describe
Kawakubo’s influence on the world
of fashion via Comme des Garçons.
How have you generally described her
aesthetic?
Stimulating, dynamic, strong, intri-
cate, and new-feminine. The femininity
of the new era has been created by
Comme des Garçons following after Co-
co Chanel. New-femininity looks some-
times androgynous; it is not determined
by men’s eyes.
AKIKO FUKAI, Chief Curator,
The Kyoto Costume Institute, to 032c.
The KCI holds a total of 1500 CdG pieces from
the early 1980s to today.
Interview by Kari Rittenbach.
HOME
Kawakubo owns an apartment in a mo-
dern tower on the edge of a cemetery,
not far from Comme des Garçons’ head-
TXDUWHUVDQGWKUHHVWRUHVLQ$R\DPD7KH
apartment’s precise location is a secret.
HONORIS
In 2000 Kawakubo was awarded the
“Excellence in Design Award” from Har-
vard University’s Graduate School of
I
Design.
IDENTITY
“I came across Comme des Garçons in
the early 1980s, a season or two after
5HL .DZDNXER ÀUVW VKRZHG LQ 3DULV $W
the time I was a trainee journalist with no
money and still dressed by customising
jumble sale bargains. But as soon as I could
afford to, I started buying a piece from
000
Comme each season. Fashion was much
more politicised then, because feminism
was so important. What you wore said
so much about your own identity, and
how you wanted to represent your gen-
der. Comme was the perfect solution.
Swathing yourself in those black folds
felt super chic, super uncompromising,
super radical and super feminist – like
ZDYLQJDYHU\HOHJDQWWZRÀQJHUHGVDOXWH
at the establishment.”
Alice Rawsthorn, “Rei,” Another Magazine #18,
Spring/Summer 2010.
INFORMATION
“What is important to me is information
(in the journalistic sense of relating
news.) Through my collections, other
product projects and through my gra-
phic work, or by collaborating with artists
and photographers, I like to tell a story.
:LWKRXWQHZVQRWKLQJLVDOLYH7KHÀQDO
result of everything must say something.
Information deepens the work. So, if
anything, I am maybe more of a journalist
than an artist!”
J
Rei Kawakubo in Menkes, 2009.
JOFFE, ADRIAN
Married to Rei Kawakubo since 1992,
the South African is the president of
Comme des Garçons International. He
is the company’s main spokesperson and
K
Kawakubo’s chief interpreter.
KISS
Models in the Comme des Garçons women’s
Fall 2009 collection wore tulle masks embroidered
L
ZLWKUHGVHTXLQVLQWKHIRUPRIDOLSVPXGJH
LOVELY
Kawakubo has said she starts out by gi-
ving form to ideas she considers “lovely”
M
or “smart”.
MATERIALS
“Over the years the designer has also in-
corporated textiles thought to be cheap,
ostentatious, cute, vulgar, or kitsch, and
repositioned them in the aesthetic hier-
archy.”
Koda, 2008.
“It was Hiroshi Matsushita who
1 devised the rayon criss-crossed with
elastic that allowed Kawakubo to make
the garments in the women’s collection
of 1984 bubble and boil as though they
were melting. And it was Matsushita
who formulated the bonded cotton rayon
and polyurethane fabric Kawakubo used
for her asymmetric dresses of 1986 …
For Matsushita, the distinctive character
of a Comme des Garçons garment can
be traced back to the thread that will be
used to weave the fabric from which the
collection will be made.”
“Once she gave us a piece of crum-
2 pled paper and sad she wanted a
pattern for a garment that would have
VRPHWKLQJ RI WKDW TXDOLW\ $QRWKHU WLPH
she didn’t produce anything, but talked
about a pattern for a coat that would
KDYH WKH TXDOLWLHV RI D SLOORZFDVH WKDW
was in the process of being pulled inside
out. She didn’t want that exact shape, of
course, but the essence is that moment of
transition, of half inside, half out.”
Sudjic, 1990. process. The old and the new appear and contaminated memory neurons of
to be the same, but because the cells the people who set eyes on them. Ka-
MEMORY, erased themselves have been replaced, strictly wakubo Rei and Sejima Kazuyo, whom I
“Continuity of tradition and history is speaking they are different entities. The rate as two of the greatest creators alive
present in varying degrees in all cultures, primal spirit in the form of the object of today, both fall into this ‘cell regene-
but learning to forget these rather than worship housed inside is embodied in ration’ category.”
inheriting them is far from easy. In place the design of the shrine. Hasegawa Yuko, Chief Curator,
of ‘forgetting’, we could substitute the “A shrine that remains forever 20 Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo,
“The Art of Forgetting,” Art iT Magazine,
words ‘destruction’ and ‘rebirth’. This is years old or less could be thought of
Fall/Winter 2006.
because in order to create a new memory, as an analogy for someone who rejects
ZHPXVWÀUVWHUDVHWKHROGPHPRU\2QH maturity beyond childhood and is reborn MODERNISM
of only a handful of examples where the over and over again in order never to Kawakubo has always functioned as a mo-
mechanism of destruction and rebirth has attain adulthood. This isn’t the same as dernist. Her fashion is serious, singular,
been adopted in the context of handing HTXDWLQJ JURZWK ZLWK WKH UHMHFWLRQ RI sensitive, full of energy and it always
down a tradition is the shikinen sengu development, but entails forgetting by makes impertinent demands on our fee-
ceremony at the Ise Shrine, according denying one after another the things lings. She works only for the satisfaction
to which the shrine is completely dis- that accumulate inside one. The only of her own ideas, season after season.
mantled and rebuilt every 20 years. The things allowed to accumulate would be She has used the skills of her pattern-
meticulousness with which this renewal practical skills and pure technology. As makers in Tokyo to attack and explore a
ceremony is observed, which means that soon as one declares oneself an heir to, variety of human conditions, including
not only the buildings but everything or destroyer of, history or tradition, one randomness, unreality, our literal and
down to the artefacts inside the buildings begins to age towards ‘adulthood’. metaphorical burdens, and our complex
are replaced, results in the crystallization “A feature of the work produced ideas about eroticism and beauty. She
both of the skills of the craftsmen involved by these creators, who could almost be makes us see these things in her fashion.
and of the time in which they act. A certain described as ‘Ise Shrine-like’, is that they CATHY HORYN, fashion critic of
purity is also achieved as a result of this help extinguish and regenerate the cells The New York Times, for 032c
000
N P
NEW
“I want
to design
clothes
that have
never yet
existed”
O
Rei Kawakubo in Koda, 2008.
OFFICE
´7KH ÀUVW WKLQJ \RX VKRXOG NQRZ DERXW
WKH&RPPHGHV*DUoRQVKHDGTXDUWHUVLV
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as drably functional as the next. Nothing
to reveal here except its nothingness.
There is no receptionist to greet you
or to direct you to the appropriate
floor. This would only be a problem if
you were actually expected at Comme
des Garçons, but very few people are
welcomed there, and that also applies
to family members. ‘’No husbands, boy-
friends, wives, daughters – never,’ said
-RIIH :KLFK EULQJV XV WR WKH VHFRQG
thing you should know about Comme
des Garçons: it’s a very secretive place.”
Cathy Horyn, “Gang of Four”,
The New York Times, February 24, 2008
000
PATTERN
Design assistants at Comme des Garçons
are patterners, and as patterners they
must develop a feel not only for shape
and texture but also, more tryingly, for
what Kawakubo is feeling at the start
of a collection, whether she is ‘’happy’’
or ‘’angry,’’ sentiments she rarely com-
municates in any detail. As she once ex-
plained, ‘’At the start, I am not exactly
certain what I am thinking myself. It is
guesswork with us.’’ What Kawakubo
hopes to achieve from this open process
is that the patterners will think more
intuitively and come up with things that
will surprise her.
Horyn, 2008.
*
“When she uses these abilities as a
springboard to think freely and radically,
patterns from the basis of her work.
‘Patterns are design. Designing actually
begins with patterns.’ The concept is con-
veyed to the pattern makers using simple
drawings and the nuances of language.
Each person’s interpretation comes back
to Kawakubo, and an exchange develops
from there.
Something made once is never made
D VHFRQG WLPH 7KLV XQHTXLYRFDO VWDWH
ment of intent was made clear at Comme
des Garçons for Comme des Garçons 4,
a show for Comme des Garçons em-
ployees put together in September at
WKH FRPSDQ\·V KHDG RIÀFH 3DWWHUQV IRU
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produced were displayed in the form of
bold, black graphics in a space whose
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white. Each pattern had been made into
a garment using neutral sheeting and
GLVSOD\HG RQ D PDQQHTXLQ WRUVR SODFHG
next to the corresponding pattern. Set
against a stark white background in
a style reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s
dance step paintings, the bold graphics
seemed to borrow heavily from the
pop/conceptual art form. Combined
with the almost unbelievable variation of
the forms standing like monotone statues
in the spaces between the graphics, this
resulted in a show that was extremely
sophisticated and powerful.
But there was no so-called message
or ideological theme there. The entire
show consisted of displays of patterns,
which take shape only after a process in
which Kawakubo gropes around in an
effort to come up with forms, relying
for guidance on the most primal aspect
of her work – the images in her head –
and of the three-dimensional entities to
which these two-dimensional patterns
had given rise.
This approach of pursuing to an
extreme the autonomy of the garment
rather than fitting it to the body finds
its ultimate expression in the bold pat-
tern experiments and endless studies of
the pattern makers. Because the actual
form of the pattern is not bound by any
conventions such as having to cut along
the grain of the fabric, the garment de-
velops a shape all of its own. This puts the
onus on the person wearing a Comme
des Garçons garment in the sense that
it tests their ability to make the clothes
look good on them.
The overall image depends on the
experimentation with the form and the
development of the patterns rather than
the production of the three-dimensional
Juergen Teller, Kate Moss wears Comme des Garçons F/W 2000
garments on which they are based. For
example, when one sees ‘Ultra-simple’
(October 1992), which despite the gar-
ments themselves being varied and com-
SOH[ LQ WKH H[WUHPH LV D TXHVW E\ WKH
designer to see how many clothes can
be made using a minimum of patterns,
one realizes that Kawakubo’s concept
image is not found on the surface of the
clothing, but at deeper level.”
Hasegawa Yuko, Chief Curator, Museum
of Contemporary art, Tokyo, “The Art of
Forgetting,” art iT Magazine, Fall/Winter 2006.
00

PEERLESSNESS
There are few women who have exerted
PRUHLQÁXHQFHRQWKHKLVWRU\RIPRGHUQ
fashion, and the most obvious, Chanel,
is in some respect her perfect foil: the
racy courtesan who invented a uniform
of irreproachable chic and the gnomic
shaman whose anarchic chic is reproach
to uniformity. They both started from an
egalitarian premise: that a woman should
derive from her clothes the ease and
FRQÀGHQFHWKDWDPDQGRHV%XW&KDQHO
formulated a few simple and lucrative
principles, from which she never wave-
red, that changed the way women wanted
to dress, while Kawakubo, who reinvents
the wheel – or tries to – every season,
changed the way one thinks about what
a dress is.”
Thurman, 2005.
PHOTOGRAPHY
“It was a Harper’s Bazaar layout that pre-
cipitated (Cindy Sherman’s) collaboration
with Kawakubo. After seeing that layout
LQ  .DZDNXER FRQWDFWHG 6KHUPDQ
and provided her with clothing from each
of the Comme des Garçons collections,
to be photographed however Sherman
wished. The resulting images were then
used in the direct-mail campaign for the
Comme des Garçons autumn/winter
1994–95 collections and also displayed
LQ WKH FRPSDQ\·V 6R+R ERXWLTXH 7KHVH
000
photographs are less depictions of sale-
able product than challenges to the ex-
pectation of what a fashion photograph
should be, breaking virtually every rule of
fashion photography.
As philosopher Roland Barthes has
observed, fashion photography is gene-
rally governed by a garment-photograph-
caption formulation, an apt description
that cannot, however, be applied to
Shermans interpretation of Comme des
Garçons clothes. Her photographs cen-
WHU RQ GLVMRLQWHG PDQQHTXLQV DQG EL
zarre characters, forcing the clothing
itself into the background. The lithe,
physically ideal fashion model, so inte-
gral to the pages of Vogue, Glamour, and
Elle, is nowhere to be seen. In her place
are a menagerie of confrontationally
unpretty surrogates, like the garishly
PDGHXSPDQQHTXLQLQ6KHUPDQ·V Un-
titled (#302).
In the context of Kawakubo’s de-
stabilizing approach to the established
way of doing business in the fashion in-
dustry, her collaboration with Sherman,
whose work also undermines the reality
of particular images, seems almost pre-
destined.”
Glasscock, 1999.
PLACE VENDOME,
Number 16, Paris 1st Arrondisement:
:RUOG+HDGTXDUWHUVRI&RPPHGHV
*DUoRQVRXWVLGHRI-DSDQVLQFH
PROTEGE
Tao Kurihara, own line under
CDG umbrella since 2005
-XQ\D:DWDQDEH, own line under CDG
XPEUHOODVLQFH
Fumito Ganryu, own line under CDG
umbrella since 2007
Q
QUASIMODO
In October of 1996, Comme des Gar-
çons presented its collection for spring/
summer 1997, titled “Dress Meets
Body”. It is the most discussed Comme
des Garçons collection to date, brought
up in almost every interview, text or
conversation about the label and its
founder.
“The small invited audience sits in
D VTXDUH LQ WKH Musée d’Art Afrique et
d’Océanie in Paris … There is no music
DQG QR FDWZDON 7KH ÀUVW PRGHO FRPHV
on in a slender, white, semi-transpa-
rent dress with two little buds at the
back, like nascent angels’ wings. As the
show progresses each model comes
out in increasingly larger and, to most
commentators, odder swellings, all under
ORQJ ÀWWHG GUHVVHV LQ VWUHWFK IDEULFV
Some are in red, white, or blue; others
in a range of ginghams: black, pale blue,
pink, or red and white. All are padded,
ZLWK JRRVHGRZQ ÀOOLQJV 7KH IHDWKHU
pads are arranged asymmetrically; they
run over a shoulder, diagonally across
a hip, down the back, or coil round
the torso, to form half-bustles, raised
necks, or prominent backs. It is hard to
ÀQG WKH ZRUGV WR GHVFULEH WKH HIIHFW RI
these down pads under sheer dresses:
if words fail perhaps it is because the
dresses do not engage with the everyday
language of the fashion body. ‘To make
a form in which a woman looks pretty in
a conventional way is not interesting to
me at all,’ says Comme’s designer Rei
Kawakubo. And it is true that she does
not emphasize its conventional assets:
VPDOO ZDLVW ÁDW VWRPDFK FXUYLQJ KLSV
and bottom, small, high breasts. Yet nei-
ther does she deny them particularly,
even when she obscures some of these
body parts. This is not a collection which
engages tyrannically with fashion, and
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exercised, produced. It seems, instead,
to be a speculation on what else the body
could be, other than.”
Caroline Evans, “Paris 1996,” 032c #4,
:LQWHU
*
“Kim Novak’s protuberances in Hitch-
cock’s Vertigo *RG]LOOD SRUHV SXV ÁR
wering on top of pimples, Nineteenth-
century bustles and false fronts, Veroni-
ca Cartwright’s bug-eyed expression of
horror in Ridley Scott’s Alien, prosthetic
cocks or a ‘real’ erect one, cellulite and
diagrams on how to combat it, the male/
female character in Silence Of The Lambs
regarding his image in the mirror, dick
tucked between his legs – all these tabu-
lae non rasae sprang to mind as I watch-
ed models garbed in Rei Kawakubo’s
Spring/Summer ’97 collection walk
down the runway this fall, their backs,
shoulders, and hips made ecstatically,
imagistically associative by the down
humps planted in Kawakubo’s wool, po-
lyurethane, and organdy gowns.”
Hilton Als, “Bump and Mind,” Artforum,
December 1996.
* clothes are for wearing outside fashion
One of my favorite fashion moments of
all times is, for different reasons, Rei
Kawakubo’s “Body Meets Dress, Dress
Meets Body” collection from 1996. At
the time, I was in Paris doing an intern-
ship for Thierry Mugler; it was the season
ZKHQ0XJOHUDQG*DXOWLHUGLGWKHLUÀUVW
haute couture shows, and Galliano did
KLVÀUVW'LRUVKRZDQG0F4XHHQGLGKLV
ÀUVW FROOHFWLRQ IRU *LYHQFK\ ,W ZDV DOVR
the time when that Comme des Garçons
collection was hanging in the CDG shop
in Paris, not the new one, but the one
at Etienne Marcel – I love that shop so
much, and I loved the smell of it, it smelled
OLNH &RPPH GHV *DUoRQV WKH ÀUVW
perfume. And while it was really great to
work at Mugler and get to look at all that
great Parisian fashion, seeing Comme
des Garçons was special because it was so
different. Imagine, to be surrounded by
haute couture and then go to Comme des
Garçons and see all those weird clothes
and those amazing skirts in paper and
all the shapes and the colors, like little
bulbs made of what had to be polyester in
RUDQJHDQGWXUTXRLVH$QG\RXFRXOGWU\
these things on – it was amazing. Even
the simplest pieces; I remember this
black T-shirt that just had like a bulb
protruding on one side. Every time I
think about it, I regret not having bought
anything, because the clothes were rela-
tively not that expensive at the time. And
I know that even now, 14 years later, if
I went to any party wearing that T-shirt
with a bulb, it would be something. That
collection will always be great.
LUIS VENEGAS, Creative Director and Publisher,
EY! Megateen, Fanzine 137 & Candy, for 032c
*
“This season, Ms. Kawakubo might have
pushed the handpicked audience of sup-
porters a bit too far. There is a delicate
balance to her Comme des Garçons ad-
miration society. Most important each
season is her concept, which this time
was ‘body meets dress, dress meets bo-
dy and becomes one.’ But typically she
throws a bone to those who still believe
focus groups without being gawked at.
“This time there wasn’t much for this
contingent. Ms. Kawakubo was experi-
menting with new forms and new bo-
dies. So beneath beautiful stretch-fabric
dresses she stuffed lumpy masses that
looked a bit like collagen injections
run amok. Shaped like kidney beans,
sometimes they sprouted above the
breasts. Sometimes they ballooned out
of the back. Hamish Bowles, the Euro-
pean editor of Vogue, suggested that
the clothes looked like something from
‘The Piano’ as if costume details like
bustles had been interpreted by the
Maori tribe. But others were less kind.
At one point, as a model emerged, her
shoulders stuffed, a photographer yelled
out ‘Quasimodo’ into the deathly silent
presentation, with no music and certainly
no chatting. If the pads were removed, of
course, there would have been painfully
pretty layered stretch dresses with high
necks, in colors like lavender and gray, or
modern prints of melded watery colors,
pale green, yellow, orange and pale blue.
But mostly the dresses invented whole
new deformities for women. The only
mass with a positive connotation was one
that jutted from the front like a pregnant
body. There were some lovely dresses
ZLWKLQ WKH VKRZ HTXDOO\ DV FRQFHSWXDO
DQGHTXDOO\XQZHDUDEOHVRPHELJEXE
bles that rose up from the hips so the
model became an unopened flower,
some giant swaths of red fabric that ren-
dered models virtually immobile, and
some that had skirts resembling waxed
brown paper bags with big, bright jackets
of what looked like crinkled crinolines.
Ms. Kawakubo said she was looking to the
future, and it’s true that ideas she started
in the past – deconstruction, for instance
– were hard to get used to. So, years from
now, perhaps it will seem remarkable that
these new shapes met resistant eyes, but
it is highly unlikely.”
Amy Spindler, “Is It New and Fresh
or Merely Strange?”, The New York Times,
October 10, 1996.
* 000
R
2008. In collaboration with scientists,
cooks, writers, and friends of the
house (the Guerrilla rules stating that lo-
cal partners are not to be specifically
involved in fashion), around 20 Guerrilla
Stores appeared and disappeared, to use
the brand’s language, in Athens, Bar-
REI celona, Basel, Beirut, Berlin, Glasgow,
´,QSHUVRQWKHGHVLJQHULVDVGLIÀFXOWWR Los Angeles, Ljubljana, Helsinki, Hong
pin down as her clothes.” Kong, Singapore, Stockholm, and War-
Frankel, 2010. saw, among others. Systematically named
Comme des Garçons Guerrilla Stores +
“People have the wrong idea about her, XXX (with the international area code
she’s not hard at all – she’s a gentle soul corresponding to the geo-localization),
who loves old trees and cats and dogs… their design was dictated by modesty,
and big fat diamonds!” ephemerality (never longer than a
$GULDQ-RIIHLQ´$QWLIDVKLRQGHVLJQHUµ year), and the preservation of elements
The Star Online0DOD\VLD-XO\ from the space’s previous function
(not renovation, but acclimatization and
REI-ISMS improvement) – all for a ridiculously
VPDOO ÀQDQFLDO LQYHVWPHQW 7KH VLPSOH
“A collection is
economic clout with Dover Street Mar-
ket. Think for a second of the real-estate
value of such a space in London Mayfair.
But, again, the investment was paired
with pragmatism (e.g, by renting lots in
the concession to invited participants
and brands, or welcoming merchandise
on a consignment basis). Kawakubo’s
original atelier, which neighbors the
PDLQ RIÀFH DQG GHVLJQ VWXGLR DQG WKH
$R\DPD &'* 7RN\R ÁDJVKLS PD\ EH
the brand’s most versatile retail entity.
It functions as a laboratory for various
experiments Comme is testing on its
own ground, to potentially later expand
virally around the world. Among the
space’s many incarnations include the
ÀUVW FROODERUDWLRQ ZLWK KLJKHQG QLFKH
retailer Colette (Colette meets Comme
des Garçons); the shop-in-sculpture-in- sized BE@RBRICKS (CDG being the
DUFKLWHFWXUH -$1 &RPPH GHV *DUoRQV only label authorized to have them pro-
never not an exercise in
suffering.”
“What doesn’t sell
today, sells tomorrow.”
“For something to
beautiful, it doesn’t have
to be pretty.”
“Clothes are my views.”
REFUSAL
“There may be many reasons why Ka-
wakubo resists verbal communication –
one might attribute it to a deep mistrust
of members the press who, let’s face it,
were plain antipathetic when she started
out or, simply to the fact that the designer
may well just be shy.”
Frankel, 2010.
“Said to have been exploring the
1 boundaries of malleable form in
movement with padded bumps at bust,
rear, and midriff combined with a stretchy
synthetic gingham, Kawakubo has never
verbally confirmed a frustration with
IDVKLRQ·VSDVVLRQIRUÀWHYHQHPDFLDWHG
PRGHOVDQGPDQQHTXLQVµ
5HL.DZDNXERLQRIÀFLDOSRUWUDLWE\(LLFKLUR6DNDWD
The designer’s hairstyle, a variation of the classic bob, has remained unchanged in over three decades.
“Kawakubo, who has been labeled
2 melancholic for her early use of
black, has declined comment on these
criticisms and allegations.”
The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
(www.metmuseum.org/toah)
RETAIL
Seizing the media blast that followed
KHU ÀUVW SUHVHQWDWLRQ LQ 3DULV LQ 
Rei Kawakubo started to devise a retail
strategy that would instantly become the
company’s main vehicle to articulate its
image. The label’s early shops, with their
near absence of design (the Paris store
was notorious for its emptiness), appear
in retrospect as mere exercises before
embarking on a larger scheme that would
come to express Comme des Garçons’
identity in contained physical spaces. In
1998, a collaboration with the British
design studio Future Systems created
WKHEUDQG·VWULSW\FKRIÁDJVKLSV7RN\R
Paris, NY), which are now classics of
store design. In New York, for instance,
the team envisioned a Chelsea garage
warping into an aluminum vortex. Added
to these early milestones more recently
ZHUHDÀYHVWRU\QDUURZPRQROLWKZKLWH
and windowless, in the heart of Hong
Kong, and a pure black prosthesis in
Kyoto, both also including gallery space.
&RPPH GHV *DUoRQV· $GULDQ -RIIH LV
credited as the architect of the Guerrilla
concept, scouting the world’s most un-
H[SHFWHGIDVKLRQGHVWLQDWLRQVWRÀQGWKH
ideal partners for the temporary stores
the brand created between 2004 and
formula was a commercial success that
agitated the media and public attention
with its radical-seeming approach. Be-
FDXVH WKH SRSXS FRQFHSW TXLFNO\ EH
came a copied gimmick, Comme reso-
lutely terminated the Guerrilla project
in 2008, and initiated the Comme des
Garçons POCKET stores, which pre-
miered in Paris. As a mutant crossover
EHWZHHQ D KLJKHQG ERXWLTXH DQG D
convenience store, POCKET offers the
brand’s easiest products to retail. To
celebrate 40 years of the label, along
with a massive communication campaign
that included billboards (New York)
and subway advertisements (Tokyo),
Comme des Garçons BLACK opened
in several cities worldwide and unveiled
the eponymous, more affordable line,
demonstrating Kawakubo’s swift and
secure investigation into all layers of
the market at once. The same Ready-to-
Access idea is synthesized in PLAYBOX,
a simple colorful booth installed, mar-
ket-style, in front of CDG stores to
ÁRRG WKH VWUHHW ZLWK WKH EUDQG·V KLJKO\
accessible PLAY line.
(PSKDVL]LQJ WKH ÁHD PDUNHW QRWLRQ
of “beautiful chaos”– a primal Kawakubo
constituent – Comme wielded its full
ZLWK DUWLVW -DQ GH &RFN +$33< $U
my Store, a funky-cheeky-messy military
shop designed by and selling the labels
RI-XQ\D:DWDQDEHZKRRIIHUHGKLVRZQ
JXHUULOOD H[SHULHQFH ZLWK WKH H<H -XQ\D
Watanabe Comme des Garçons shop
lost in the streets of Tokyo’s Harajuku
district); Dover Street Market Tokyo
as an Alice in Wonderland miniature
replica of the London vessel; Vogue X
&RPPH GHV *DUoRQV ZKHUH WKH -DSD
nese edition of the magazine curated
many collaborations, from Chanel to Ta-
kashi Murakami; the highly expected
and commentated Louis Vuitton at Com-
PH GHV *DUoRQV WKH ÀUVW &RPPH GHV
Garçons BLACK shop; and currently a
&RPPH GHV *DUoRQV 021&/(5 
venture.
The list is endless and continues to
grow. One of the brand’s most interesting
projects opened last year in the Gyre
building on Omotesando Street, Tokyo.
TRADING MUSEUM CDG extends the
conceptual and aesthetic model of Dover
Street Market by mixing the centuries-
old notion of museums as institutions
that elevate humanity with the concept
RI WUDGH $QWLTXH ZRRGHQ FDELQHWV IURP
the Victoria & Albert Museum, over-
duced larger than 1000%), and instal-
lations by Michael Howells, who was also
responsible for some of the most out-
standing parts of Dover Street Market,
are here to reinstate Kawakubo’s am-
bition: to constantly instigate new stunts
in an apathetic field, and to celebrate
shopping as a transformative experience
where economic power can be used to
inject commerce with culture.
CYRIL DUVAL (item idem) for 032c
RUPTURE
“The historian and
curator Valerie Steele
sees a kind of violence
– even a brutalism – to
Rei’s work that made
most fashion of the time
look innocuous and
bourgeois, and from
that moment an avant-
garde split from the
mainstream and hurtled
off in its own direction.”
Thurman, 2005.

000 000
S
SALVAGE
“Rei used to love going through the gar-
EDJHWRÀQGWKLQJVZH·GWKURZQRXW²QRZ
I bring our garbage can with us.”
Ronnie Cooke Newhouse in Rawsthorn, 2009.
SCENARIO
On October, 14 1997, the Merce Cun-
ningham Dance Company premiered
Scenario at the Brooklyn Academy of Mu-
sic. The dancers were wearing costumes
designer by Rei Kawakubo.
´7KHFRVWXPHVVWROHWKHVKRZ7KHÀUVW
colorful section suggested a tropical
utopia, an undiscovered island of weird
cultural signifiers, of Others dancing
away. When the dancers came out in
their black Kawakubos, I thought of
French poodles groomed for show; or
Victorian widows, their bustles askew;
or the precarious black hair-buns of
geishas; or Dior’s New Look, with its
fertility goddess swells. I had not con-
VLGHUHG MXVW KRZ XELTXLWRXV EXPSV
and humps are in fashion history, how
QDWXUDO WR WKH ODQGVFDSH RI DUWLÀFH 1RU
had I ever seen the Cunningham dancers
ORRN JODPRURXV LQ TXLWH WKLV ZD\ ² LQ D
fashion context. The women’s strong,
slim, lower legs were suddenly gorgeous,
feminine legs – eroticized. Gams.”
/DXUD-DFREV´&RPSXWHUJDPHV0HUFH&XQQLQJ
ham,” The New Criterion, December 1997.
000
SECRECY
´7KHTXHVWSURFHHGVEHKLQGFORVHGGRRUV
like a papal election, and successive me-
ditations on the koan produce more or
OHVVDGHTXDWHUHVXOWVµ
Thurman, 2005.
SEX
Falling somewhere between an Amish
smock and a Coogi sweater on the hotness
scale, Comme des Garçons is, without a
doubt, the least sexy of any fashion label
today. More platonic than erotic, more
comical than come-hither, the clothes
simply do not hug a woman’s curves in
the way French designers do or leave the
ÁHVK EDUH LQ WKH ZD\ ,WDOLDQ GHVLJQHUV
do. They don’t even subliminally echo,
suggest or point to a person’s naughty
bits. “Like boys,” it would seem, is just
a name.
Not even when Rei Kawakubo be-
gan showing her collections in Paris in
1981 did her designs become any more
titillating or romantic. While suggestive,
the spring 1997 collection known as
“lumps and bumps” (ascribed by the
press) was more about bodily extremes
than carnal desire. And the Rolling Stone
tongue-and-lips prints of the spring 2006
men’s collection was less about male
OLELGRWKDQULIÀQJRQDWUDGHPDUN1RWR
this day the Comme des Garçons look has
more to do with its original inspiration,
UXVWLF -DSDQHVH SHDVDQWU\ WKDQ D URPS
in the hay. But let’s be clear. It isn’t that
Ms. Kawakubo takes a clutch-pearls, Vic-
torian view on sex. It’s as if the subject
doesn’t ever enter her thought process.
Not even that most sensuous of de-
signer offerings, the perfume, is remotely
arousing when it comes from the Comme
des Garçons camp. Among its best-sellers,
Odeur is in fact an “anti-perfume,” and
touted as such. With notes that include
nail polish and burnt rubber, it’s a far cry
IURPWKHSUHWW\ÁRUDOVVZHDW\PXVNVDQG
pheromone-laden wannabe aphrodisiacs
on the market. Perhaps there is a sexual
innuendo in the more recent fragrance,
Wonderwood, but it’s doubtful.
Only two Comme des Garçons ad-
vertisements have ever come to my at-
tention. One was for PLAY, a secondary
line, and the other a fragrance. But even if
Comme advertised its scents as heavily as
Dolce & Gabbana or Roberto Cavalli do,
you would never, ever see a wind-blown,
spread-eagled, airbrushed model draped
in a near-orgiastic state over shirtless,
swarthy men. Of this you can be sure.
So, okay, sex is off-limits in the
Comme des Garçons universe. Which is
to say, of course, that Comme, that most
LURQLFRIODEHOVLVXWWHUO\XQHTXLYRFDOO\
impossibly sexy.
LEE CARTER, Founder and Editor in Chief,
Hintmag.com, for 032c
SIX
“Begun in 1988 and published bi-an-
nually, that is, for the Spring and Fall
collections of Comme des Garçons,
Six was never intended to be merely a
means of itemizing what was for sale,
Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Malgosia Bela wears Comme des Garçons F/W 2008
that much is clear. Large format (15.5
x 11.5) of folded loose leaves, it is not
a pocket book! Its format imposes a
presence and physicality upon the reader
or viewer, since each issue is much
more a folio of photographs and collage
in performance than a picture book of
pretty glossy snaps, hence the preference
for black and white (rather than color)
as though in line with art house black
DQG ZKLWH ÀOP ,W EULQJV DQ DSSURDFK
to content and style that is wholly avant-
garde: beginning with the (relative) use
of anonymity in order to facilitate the
sense of the review as a collective creative
endeavor; the fact that the journal is
given away free to all interested parties
(a form of potlatch, then); the range of

materials and subjects brought together:
IXUQLWXUHSKRWRJUDSK\ÀQHDUWVSRHWU\
architecture and urbanism, portraiture,
clothing; the recovery of out-of-the-
way materials (the photographs of the
people, landscape and folk-art of Geor-
gia, for example, a sort of contemporary
Pont-Aven of the Gauguin and Nabis
symbolistes; of the Surrealist-inflected
photography of André Kertész along
with the Constructivist cinema of Dziga
Vertov), and all of this in the presentation
of a view (an image) of living as integrated
phenomenon, above all, the way in which
these materials are brought together to
make of the journal Six a laboratory of
ideas, ideas which will then take on a life
of their own in different forms (lines in
furniture, clothing, interior architecture,
photography, no less than dance in at
least one case).”
Michael Stone-Richards, “I am A Cat,”
Refusing Fashion, MOCAD 2008.
+ the guerilla stores – moving around like
“From 1988 to 1991, Kawabuko em-
barked on a bold experiment that trans-
formed the notion of a fashion catalogue
from a documentary listing of individual
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magazine that incidentally included
images of the season’s line. She called
the publication Sixth Sense, or Six for
short, explaining in the premier issue,
‘”Six” is the sixth sense. It is the sense
of the surreal. Although the sixth sense
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be one aspect of this sense.’ Each issue
mixed newly commissioned works by
the hottest contemporary fashion pho-
tographers showcasing Comme des
Garçons wardrobe with iconic images
created by the masters of photography.
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red in the issues, both with their art and
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the prints is evocative of Kawakubo’s
design aesthetic, which in the early days
of the company was considered ‘Hiro-
shima chic.’”
Abstract from library catalogue,
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.
000
SPACE
“Her clothing is not so much about the
body as the space around the body and
the metaphor of self … the garment as
a construction in space, essentially a
structure to live in.”
Sarah Bodine, “Kawakubo, Rei,”
fashionencyclopedia.com.
‘Kawakubo’s clothes are architectonic
or sculptural, concentrating on structure
rather than surface. The garments are
constructed and assembled, rather like
a building, and because they are almost
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a body to inhabit them, to supply the
missing volume – often they are incon-
ceivable without the body and, for this
reason, are often much better off the
rack and on the body.’
T
Hodge, 2000.
TASTE
“I played with notions of bad taste and
then did them the Comme des Garçons
way. Of course, bad taste done by Comme
des Garçons becomes good taste.”
Rei Kawakubo via The Fashion Spot, 2008
TYPEFACE
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Comme’s spirit of complicated simplici-
ty.” Paola Antonelli, Design curator, The
Museum of Modern Art, NY, regarding
the font, with a star instead of a cedilla,
that is the company’s de-facto logo.
“The World’s Top 50 Logos,”
The Globe and Mail (Toronto), October 27, 2000
U V
URBANISM
“Let it be said that Kawakubo’s enter-
prise has an urbanism. Prada has loca-
tions, many of them urban, but it doesn’t
have an urbanism. Comme des Garçons
is never on the main street of the most
obvious shopping neighborhood. When
Kawakubo established stable and pro-
per showrooms, they tend to be invisible
from the street – polka dot curved glass
is inset from the building line, windows
are spare and lack the loud broadcasting
design of traditional storefront display
and tunnels, and other kinds of pas-
sageways are constructed to keep the
destination itself always at bay. Of course
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they are found – take this urban principle
and put it into action. If most stores today
simply make static urban monuments,
Comme des Garçons is an active urbanism
of stealth and evasion, where shops walk
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ZKR FDQ ÀQG SULYDF\ DQG VHFUHF\ RQO\
when exposed and in the midst of the
chaotic city.”
Sylvia Lavin, “Pas Comme des architectes,”
Refusing Fashion, MOCAD 2008.
URINE
In September 1994, Comme des Gar-
çons introduced its first perfume. It
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in plastic bags laid out around the swim-
ming pool at the Ritz Hotel in Paris.
The fragrance’s concept was “WORKS
LIKE A MEDICINE, BEHAVES LIKE
A DRUG”.
VEHICLE
“Despite her wealth, her only apparent
major indulgence is a vintage car, a mon-
X
ster Mitsubishi from the 1970s, which
attracts the kind of stares in Tokyo that
her clothes attract in Houston.”
W
Thurman, 2005
WEIWEI, AI
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at Tate Modern, Dover Street Market sells
T-shirts by the Chinese artist for £15.
WORD
“I start every collection with one word, I
can never remember where this one word
came from. I never start a collection with
some historical, social, cultural or any
other concrete reference or memory. Af-
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it in any logical way. I deliberately avoid
any order to the thought process after
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the opposite of the word, or something
different to it, or behind it.”
Rei Kawakubi in Horyn, 2008.
WORK
Elsa Klensch: “What personality traits
have contributed most to your success?”
Rei Kawakubo: “It’s not personality. It’s
hard work. When Estée Lauder accep-
ted her achievement award at the Fa-
shion Group last fall she said she didn’t
get where she got by chance. She wor-
ked. It’s the same with me. I worked
hard every day.
That’s all it is –
a lot of hard work.”
Klensch, 1987.
XY/XX
Comme des Garçons, “like boys”: it’s
been a gender game from the beginning.
Girls who are boys who like boys to be
girls… A graphic upending of sartorial
orthodoxy in which the image of a
man in a skirt is essential, because of
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perception, aesthetics, and gender –
or so it seems. But nothing is ever what
it seems with Rei Kawakubo – and so
it is with a man in a skirt. Walter van
Beirendonck, a designer Rei Kawakubo
happens to admire, once said, “When it
is properly balanced, a skirt is without
gender,” and, “Whether clothes are for
men and women is all in the head.” Rei’s
head is clear of preconception. Comme
des Garçons integrates traditional ele-
ments of menswear and womenswear
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how matter-of-fact becomes clear when
you look at the ways other designers have
proposed skirts for men: subversive, or
provocative, or sexual, or aggressive, or
satirical. There is none of that in the sight
of Cole Mohr marching down the Comme
catwalk in an ensemble that marries the
monochrome rigor of clerical gear with the
strictness of an Edwardian governess. But
these are my preconceptions, not Rei’s.
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lution of the silhouette and attitude
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Edwardian England and Vivienne West-
wood. Rei Kawakubo mirrors both, the
disciplined ego of one, the unleashed id
RIWKHRWKHU%XWZKDWUHDOO\GHÀQHVKHU
interpretation is the notion of a kind of
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It is also transcendent in that it rises
above prosaic categorizations to explore
a post-gender universality. So “comme
des garçons” is ultimately also “comme
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increasingly knotty. They’ll take centu-
ries to untangle.
Y
TIM BLANKS, fashion critic, for 032c
YAMAMOTO, YOHJI
The designer and Rei Kawakubo were a
couple from the Seventies till the early
Nineties.
000
Z
afternoon, to Comme Des Garçons SHIRT. There
was a shirt with half a collar, or a dress shirt with no

TO LOVE ALONE collar at all. He showed me this: a shirt could mean

something other than “shirt,” just as Gertrude Stein
had proved that a sentence could look and feel
Hilton Als and sound like something other than an ordinary
ZERO sentence. My friend was a rose was a rose was a rose.
“Collection after collection, He not only collected Gertrude Stein’s books, but
The longer you live, the more life laughs in your
Kawakubo obliterates her past.” the occassional Comme des Garçons “piece,” as he
face. Life: that old friend and enemy who knows
Koda, 2008. called Rei Kawakubo’s clothes. (Before my friend,
all your secrets and tells them to you in the most
I did not know that clothing could be art, or that
unexpected or inconvenient places: in bed, as you
an underthing could be as beautiful and necessary
drift off to sleep; in the cinema, as you drift into a
as a Brancusi, say.) My friend lived, at times, in
performer’s dream of a face; while swimming in
Kawakubo’s black rayon knickers. Or a striped
waters thick with salt, shafts of sunlight, murkiness.
jacket with the armpits removed. In all his Comme
Sometimes, in one’s living, fragments of a former
des Garçons clothes, though (how we loved the name
self reappear, dressed to the nines, but always in
of Rei Kawakubo’s enterprise, especially since we
the wrong clothes. When, in memory, do we ever
didn’t want to be boys at all!) there nested, always,
look “correct”? Always, in my memory these days, I
P\IULHQG·VVPHOOKLVXQLTXHPL[WXUHRIEDE\RLODQG
look “less” standing next to my now dead father, not
coffee and perspiration. His odor made his clothes
that he was especially well-dressed. What my father
his own. How we found one another, I’ll never know.
was: beautiful to many women, in part because
Not content with my ability to love him, and my
he was far away from the concerns of “fashion”;
great joy in learning from him, I shared him with a
in addition to having his own style – soft V-neck
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cardigans, sensible shoes for the long walks he loved
design, too. One afternoon, we took her to Comme
taking – he was immune to social life; he lived more
Des Garçons SHIRT, where my friend photographed
or less by himself, even as he lived with other people.
her wearing various Comme Des Garçons shirts. In
Before he died I wasn’t close to my father for many
some of the pictures you can see her face – a face that
years, but I’ve generally been interested in men who
had the shape and contours, some of her friends
represent him sartorially; that is, I’ve always been
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interested in men who are immune to trend, and who
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have the ability to treat clothes not as fashion but
her, I haven’t seen him since she died, and that is part
as an element of self-expression, their own private
of his genius: to identify deeply with all manner of
language made visible.
the living and the dead, down to their clothes.
+HZDVWKHÀUVWRQH,NQHZZKRZRUH²DPRQJ
other things – Comme des Garçons. He was an art
director at the “alternative” weekly I worked at
back then; this must have been 1988 or so. Back
then, I didn’t speak to my father, but I spoke to
him: he of the linen Comme des Garçons jacket,
and collector of Rei Kawakubo’s Six Magazine,
that sharer of this hitherto unknown designer who
was categorized as a “deconstructionist.” What
did that mean? My now fast friend, the art director
showed me what that meant when he took me, one

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