10 Facts About Rei Kawakubo That Illuminate the History of Comme des Garçons
Subversive, unconventional and extremely creative. The history of the Comme des Garçons brand told with 10 interesting facts about creative director and founder Rei Kawakubo.
Rei Kawakubo founded her fashion brand Comme des Garçons in Tokyo in 1969. There are no half measures in her creative practice: her aesthetic is strong, characterized by clothing free from gender labels, both male and female. Each of her creations can be considered a work of art. You either love it or hate it. For her collections she prefers atypical fabrics, produces uniforms that distort the body shape, designs complex and imposing silhouettes and overturns the construction of the garment following the systems of deconstruction and construction. The CdG brand was presented for the first time during Paris Fashion Week in 1981 with the collection "Hiroshima Chic". Rei Kawakubo's collections immediately disoriented the press, which defined them with the term "anti-fashion" to declare the strong antithesis to the trends of the golden age of the 80s.
Scroll down to discover the history of Comme des Garçons through 10 fun facts about Rei Kawakubo .
THE NAME AS DES GARÇONS
Literally translated as "like boys", it refers to Rei Kawakubo's clothes designed to not give up mobility and comfort combined with her anti-fashion style. For this reason, she never designed stiletto heels and never made her models wear them during her fashion shows. Her clothes were designed for an independent woman who did not dress to seduce or gain the approval of a man. However, many argue that Rei Kawakubo chose this name only for a French vocal fluidity in pronunciation.
THE LOVE STORY OF REI KAWAKUBO AND YOHJI YAMAMOTO
In the late 1970s, Rei Kawakubo began a professional relationship and romantic love affair with Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto. They both debuted separate collections in Paris in 1981 and immediately shocked the press and critics. Their garments were dark, oversized and asymmetrical, dissonant with the lines of the human body. Kawakubo and Yamamoto continued to collaborate for several years and, together with Issey Miyake, were considered the most innovative designers in Japan.
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS
Among the most famous collaborations for advertising campaigns conceived by Rei Kawakubo are the contemporary artist and performer Cindy Shermann and the artworks with graphic images by Colier Schorr.
THE BODY MEETS DRESS, DRESS MEETS BODY SHOW
For the Comme des Garçons Spring Summer 1997 collection, Rei Kawakubo presented a series of dresses and garments that showed body deformations and protuberances. Vichy checked sheath dresses that revisited the architecture of the dress were padded to analyze the space between the body and the dress. A real punch in the face to the fashion system that demonstrated the Japanese designer's passion for experimentation.
"It is our job to question conventions. If we don't take the risk, who will?" Rei Kawakubo
COLLABORATION WITH MERCE CUNNINGHAM FOR "SCENARIO"
For the Spring Summer 1997 collection, Rei Kawakubo collaborated with Merce Cunningham to present the performance "Scenario". The American artist and choreographer, as well as life partner of John Cage, made dance a true artistic practice. The Cunningham method foresees that dance is an organ in itself with respect to music and for him the movements must be enriched with lines, trajectories, rapid repetitions and compositions.
"My idea has always been to explore the movement of the human body. I have tried to teach students and dancers my technique, but in a way that leaves room for individuality." Merce Cunningham
SIX THE COMME DES GARÇONS MAGAZINE
Comme des Garçons also presented a magazine in 1988, it was called Six and alluded to the exploration of the sixth sense. A publication wanted by Rei Kawakubo, among the editors there was the name of Atsuko Kozasu and as art director Tsuguya Inoue. Among the pages of Six flows the vision of the Japanese brand through works of art by international artists and photographers. The magazine also features the names of the great masters of photography Peter Lindbergh, Bruce Weber, Dino Buzzati and Salvador Dalí. The magazine however closed in 1991 and over time the editorial product became a cult object for collectors.
THE PERFUMES OF COMME DES GARÇONS
The first perfume was presented in 1994, since then every fragrance has become a subject of experimentation. They play with essences of tar, rubber, gunpowder, ink and nail polish. Among the most experimental creations we remember the perfume Series 6 Synthetic: Garage full of aldehydes and discordant notes that take you back to the mechanic's workshop, to the perfume "Andy Warhol's You're In", inspired by the original citrus perfume used by Andy Warhol for the 1967 work.
HAIRSTYLING
At the Comme des Garçons shows, hairstyling is studied as if it were an extension of the clothes. A faithful collaborator of Rei Kawakubo, Julien D'Ys designs and creates sculptural hairstyles made with distorted wigs, often supported by metal wires and recycled constructions or materials.
DOVER STREET MARKET
Rei Kawakubo is also known for founding Dover Street Market alongside her husband, British Adrian Joffe. It can be described as a CdG department store or a concept store more like a creative hub. Originally created in 2004 on Dover Street in London, DSM is now also located in Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, New York, Los Angeles and most recently Paris. It is a multi-brand store with the most emerging brands and talents selected by the founder with a strong aesthetic vision for visual marketing and display.
THE COLORS OF COMME DES GARÇONS
Rei Kawakubo's first collections were completely black, then the absolute color was used as an indispensable base for all her palettes. However, during her creative journey and the history of the brand she also had the opportunity to experiment with reds as for the fashion show "Roses and Blood" Spring Summer 2015, the white monochromatics for the "White Drama" Spring Summer 2012 and "The ceremony of separation" Fall Winter 2015 collections shot by photographer Paolo Roversi.
REI KAWAKUBO/COMME DES GARÇONS: ART OF THE IN-BETWEEN AT THE MET
In 2017, the Costume Institute at the MET examines the work and career of Rei Kawakubo through the collections of Comme des Garçons. The exhibition Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between is a retrospective of 140 clothing designs ranging from early 1980s to 2017. The rooms at The Metropolitan Museum of Art are organized into nine aesthetic expressions of interstitiality in Kawakubo's work: Absence/Presence, Design/Not Design, Fashion/Anti-Fashion, Model/Multiple, Then /Now, High/Low, Self/Other, Object/Subject, and Clothes/Not Clothes. Kawakubo breaks down the imaginary walls between these dualisms, exposing their artificiality and arbitrariness.
THE TIMELINE OF COMME DES GARÇONS
1969: Rei Kawakubo founds Comme des Garçons
1973: Comme des Garçons opens the first boutique in Tokyo
1981: Debuts with the "Hiroshima Chic" collection during Paris Fashion Week
1982: "Destroy" Collection: black and white colours coexist in an ambivalent dialogue
1983: CdG opens its first boutique in New York
1988: Rei Kawakubo presents the magazine Six (it will close definitively in 1991)
1991: Comme des Gaçons presents the gothic collection "Lilith"
1994: Rei Kawakubo launches the first perfume
1995: Comme des Gaçons presents the "Broken Bride" collection
1997: Rei Kawakubo debuts with the "Body meets dress, dress meets body" collection
2004: Rei Kawakubo and Adrian Joffe open Dover Street Market in London
2011: Presents the "White Drama" fashion show, the first entirely white collection
2014: "Roses and Blood" the all-red collection by CdG
2015: Rei Kawakubo presents the fashion show "The ceremony of separation" with the photos of Paolo Roversi
2016: Comme des Garçons Homme Plus shows the collection "The King is Naked"
2017: The Retrospective "Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between" at the MET
