The radical designer that is Comme des Garcons

When searching for a radical designer, your mind could wander for hours; Balenciaga of course, Molly Goddard, Vivienne Westwood… it is not long before you stumble across Comme des Garcons. Your head immediately is filled with images of colossal structures and vibrant shapes, and you can’t quite make out if the sleeve ends at the waist or if there are even sleeves at all. This is Comme des Garcon. Founded by the visionary Rei Kawakubo in 1969, the Tokyo born brand exploded into fashion and has stained the way we look at the industry today. CDG made a name in fashion for their predominant use of black, distressed materials, and the AW95 ready-to-wear collection has the minimalistic palette of neutral blacks, greys, and whites which in comparison to their most recent SS18 collection (bold would be an understatement), is quite clearly a thing of CDG’s past. In contrast to the tame colours used is the bizarre silhouettes the AW95 collection created; jackets with no sleeve holes, ball-shaped skirts, and netting spurting out of the garments left right and centre all work towards distorting the wearer’s body. As Kawakubo once said, “my intention is not to make clothes. My head would be too restricted if I only thought about making clothes” [1], a concept represented in every collection CDG has created.

CDG’s latest collections do not fail to deliver Kawakubo’s sole radical intentions, and AW17 is not one you can simply ‘flick through’ but one you have to take time admiring. In keeping with CDG use of distressed materials, many of the garments are constructed from recycled fabrics similar to parcel paper or soft house furnishings (making us slightly envious of the model, it must be somewhat cosy...). Being possibly one of the most outrageous collections to date, AW17 boasts carefully constructed garments, including a snow-white ‘dress’ (if it can be called that) that resembles the shape of a distorted plus-sized mannequin. Your mind begins to think about the distorted silhouettes and what they stand for when concealing the model’s figure – body image does not exist in the world of Kawakubo. Ronnie Cookie Newhouse, owner and creative director of House + Holme, once asked Kawakubo “does creating around the human form put limitations on your work?” to which the designer bluntly replied: “there are no limitations.” [2]

Not ‘believing’ in limitations is CDG’s own religion, a mind-set which has been reshaping fashion in numerous ways including the combination of masculinity and femininity. CDG’s SS95 Transcending Gender collection presented a new agenda concerning androgyny: the models were gender neutral, some clad in three piece suits which once would have been considered masculine but now you don’t have any concern in determining the gender to assign the garment. Women in suits has been present in fashion long before CDG existed, Chanel for example are well-known for their 1940s ‘power suit’ but as opposed to the feminine and elegant skirt-suit Chanel boasted, CDG created gender ambiguity pieces. “Spiritually, there are no more differences between men and women” Kawakubo told Vogue [3], “what is important is being human”. Androgyny runs through into CDG’s collections today, encouraging other fashion names to delve into blurring the lines between male and female: Thom Browne’s 2017 Resort collection with the neutral colour palette and stiff suits is a definitive example of the breakdown in gender segregation. “To say some of the looks borrowed from the boys would be understating it” Jessica Iredale wrote for WWD [4], “His classic tailoring makes a strong unisex look”, the use of ‘unisex’ recognises two genders, whereas CDG undoubtedly eliminates genders altogether.

The radicalness of CDG does not end with the unique silhouetes or it’s approach to androgyny: when CDG first entered the fashion world, it’s use of distressed fabrics in the SS92 show grabbed the attention of many. “I wanted to go back to the beginning and show that the finished product is not what’s interesting anymore,” Kawakubo explained, “when clothes are in the middle of construction, then there is always the questions of what comes next.” Martin Margiela is largely considered the ‘vanguard’ designer of deconstructive fashion, however the SS92 collection’s fraying hems and half-constructed jackets came before Margiela used the concept.

CDG is a brand which, despite being radical from its beginning, is constantly challenging any boundaries it meets, and whilst many brands evolve with fashion, CDG evolves fashion. In the future we can expect to be continuously bewildered by every collection CDG creates, and referring to future designs Kawakubo explains: “If I do something I think is new it will be misunderstood, but if people like it I will be disappointed because I haven’t pushed myself enough.” From walking recycled materials in catwalk shows, to completely distorting the human silhouette CDG has earned its right to be named one of fashion’s most revolutionary brands to ever exist.

[1]: https://www.harpersbazaar.com.au/fabulous-at-every-age/rei-kawakubo-best-quotes-9328

[2]: https://www.highsnobiety.com/2017/04/13/comme-des-garcons-fashion-trends/

[3]: https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-1995-ready-to-wear/comme-des-garcons

[4]: http://wwd.com/runway/resort-2018/new-york/thom-browne/review/