Rei Kawakubo is a designer of extremes. After exploring the beauty of darkness last season, she turned to the wilderness of technicolour for AW20, exploring every colour on the spectrum and then some. As soon as today’s Comme des Garçons Homme Plus began, it was clear we’re up for a chaotic frenzy as the models marched in groups with a sense of urgency, determined to get to their destination which was… Well, only Kawakubo knows. Just like her SS20 lauded romantically in the darkest of hues, this season was about portraying the clashing clown-esque prints in a sinister way similar to ways Stephen King writes.
Portraying a vision of a psychedelic trip, there was a rave-y quality to the garments Kawakubo sent on the catwalk, reminiscent of her Techno-Disco collection for SS18. Slashed tops in florals revealed more than they covered, while plaid leggings provided a kind of comfort that will take you from AM to PM and then back to AM. Putting Plus back in Comme des Garçons Homme Plus were the long and luscious wigs which at first seemed as appliquéd to fronts of garments when in fact they were pieces of jewellery dangling off the silver neck chains.
This is Rei Kawakubo – of course there’s a method to the madness. Some of the tailoring was worn inside out, revealing the explosion of harlequin and leopard prints. Other jackets stunned with their exquisite silhouettes in solid pastel colours – the unique curve of their arms and shoulder cuts exposing the layers underneath showcased decades of experience and skills. A Comme des Garçons show is never just as it appears at first. However chaotic and crazy, this was one of Kawakubo’s most directional menswear outings we’ve seen in awhile.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans.
