Comme des Garcons Fall Winter 2008 Preview

Rei Kawakubo is an Amy Winehouse fan—who knew? The multiple Grammy award winner's Back to Black played solidly throughout the Comme des Garçons Fall show, and such was the funny sideways take on trashy fifties net petticoats, dance dresses, and underwear. Seriously, though, this was Kawakubo in one of her more skittish moods. As she put it, "There's value in bad taste, too. This is Comme des Garçons bad taste." That included puffballs of tulle in red and cotton-candy pink, hairnet veils, leopard-spot hats, and lattices of elasticized satin-frilled garter straps connecting the gaps between chopped-up garments. Cheesy lip and heart motifs came into play as well, the mouths opening as suggestive frilled portholes on coats, and the love-hearts as embroideries. Still, despite Kawakubo's best efforts to confound the tyranny of "good" taste, she couldn't help but end up with a few items that might just look unironically pretty on the right girl. The black satin bra-topped velvet and chiffon negligee dress, the red circle-skirted polka-dot dance dress, and the white tulle ballet dress caged in black tape.

Via Style.com

Rei Kawakubo @ NYT Magazine

Great article on Comme des Garcons' Rei Kawakubo on the NYTimes magazine by Cathy Horyn. It gives great insight on the whole creative process and operation of the world's most conceptual and avant-garde fashion house, founded by Kawakubo almost 40 years ago. Under the Comme de Garcons' umbrella she gave room for the talents of Junya Watanabe and Tao Kurihara, that unlike cheaper CDG collections are separate labels with their own identity and creative independence. Kawakubo claims that the first time she sees their collections is when they are shown on the Paris runways, though they all work on the same office building in Tokyo.

To read the whole article click here

Speedo By Comme des Garçons

Brazil usually comes to mind when one thinks swim wear fashions, after so many beach trends hailed from the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana in the past decades. The warm weather, the beautiful paradisiac beaches and the sexy locals make it the perfect inspirational mix for Brazilian designers but the new wave in swim wear seems to be coming from the unlikeliest of places. Not Iran, Japan! One of the most surprising partnerships in recent memory, Comme des Garçons' designer Rei Kawakubo joined forces with swim wear powerhouse Speedo for an unexpected capsule collection. Prices range from £9.00 for her logo swim cap to £55.00 for a women's one piece, not bad at all considering how much her own label retails for. The pieces are definitely on the basic/functional side - no 3-legged trunks to be found anywhere in sight - and surprisingly logo-heavy for an usually minimalist designer.

I still find hard to envision Ms Kawakubo, a creator of many challenging and cerebral avant-garde fashions, splashing about in a Speedo maillot of her own design, but what do I know?

Available at Dover Street Market

Comme des Garçons Underwear

Move over La Perla and 2-Xist!

Over the last twenty or so years, Rei Kawakubo and her Comme des Garçons label have been responsible for designing some of the most wildly creative clothes in fashion history. Next season, however, it's back to basics for a collaboration of underthings with the century-old Danish clothier Hammerthor. The Comme des Garçons SHIRT line launches the debut collection of briefs, tanks, and T-shirts in signature logo prints and polka dots—or classic gray and white. But I am sure it will not be much competition with the CKs or Agent Provocateurs when it comes to sexy undies, as these are clearly for intellectual fashion-victims.

Via V Magazine

Comme des Garçons Builds Niche Perfume Empire

What do Daphne Guinness and Stephen Jones have in common - apart from their English eccentric style? They are both launching first fragrances under the auspices of Adrian Joffe, who heads up the company of his partner Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons and has developed for her a fragrance empire.
The idea of Joffe as the beauty industry's new prince of perfume sounds unlikely. But, as Joffe says, there is an increasing demand for niche marketing in this area where big does not always seem so beautiful.
The proof is in the steady development of Comme des Garçons fragrances since the early beginnings in 1993. When its Eau de Parfum was launched around the swimming pool at the Ritz, it seemed more like a medicinal congress than a beauty event, as bags of yellow liquid were the decoration of choice.

Instead of the standard $50,000 launch parties that reverberated through the 1990s, Comme des Garçons brought out a different concept each year, with the 1999 series of "Leaves" a hit with customers.
But Comme des Garçons Parfum has remained an individualist and a family affair.
Jones explains that he worked closely with Kawakubo herself on his concept, saying "she's not a perfume person," but that "she is a very good editor."
While Kawakubo has always been labeled an iconoclast, Joffe has broken the mold in a more nuanced way. The Dover Street Market, set up as a London multi-brand store, was dismissed as an aberration in the era of brand retail flagships. But now, with its mix of cool and traditional fashion and accessories - not least from Comme des Garçons' own labels, the store is looking increasingly visionary.

The financial side is also moving ahead, with wholesale figures up 32 percent to $3.5 million for year end to May 2007 and profits rising by 50 percent. The new phase of development will see Comme des Garçons managing its independent names and paying them a royalty. "Our role is like a producer in a movie," says Joffe. "And like a producer, we have to be satisfied with the plot and the text."

Text by Suzy Menkes

Via International Herald Tribune