Rei Kawakubo is a Japanese fashion d e s i g n e r, founder of Comme des Garรงons.
In 1973, she established her own company, Comme des Garçons Co. Ltd in Tokyo and opened up her first boutique in Tokyo in 1975. Starting out with women’s clothes,
Kawakubo added a men’s line in 1978. Three years later, she started presenting her fashion lines in Paris each season, opening up a boutique in Paris in 1982.
Comme des Garรงons specialises in anti-fashion, austere, sometimes deconstructed garments. During the 1980s, her garments were primarily in black, dark grey or white. The materials were often draped around the body and featured frayed, unfinished edges along with holes and a general asymmetrical shape.
Challenging the established notions of beauty she created an uproar at her debut Paris fashion show where journalists labeled her clothes 'Hiroshima chic' amongst other things. Since the late 1980s her colour palette has grown somewhat.
COMME des GARÇONS’ SS12 collection was one of the standout shows of the season. Conceptual, original and awe-inspiringly beautiful, it was a thought-provoking and emotional collection that left editors reeling.
Rei Kawakubo’s meaning may be unclear, but the emotions she provoked were not.
Hope, beauty, serenity and strength washed over the audience like a tide, as the all-white collection of bridal gowns, corsetry, flowers and headdresses played through life’s most important milestones – birth, marriage, death and transcendence.
A COMME des GARÇONS show is always one of Paris Fashion Week’s hottest tickets, but this season was one of their best ever.
After a month of back-to-back shows and an overwhelming mix of seasonal propositions – from silhouettes, patterns and embellishments – there is nothing more refreshing than being presented with an entire collection executed entirely in white.
Even more exhilarating when it comes courtesy of Rei Kawakubo, an unpredictable, alternative thinker and one of the most respected and unconventional designers in contemporary fashion. Her spring/ summer 12 Comme des Garรงons collection, entitled White Drama, was loaded with outrageous beauty and rich symbolism and managed to confuse, provoke and delight its audience in equal measure.
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