March 5, 2023 |
The show notes from Comme des Garçons are notoriously sparse, so the brain has to fill in the gaps, which, I guess, is the point. The show was titled Return to the Source, spurred by, “A feeling of wanting to go back to the starting point”. At Comme that has always been a relentless, unflinching, sometimes brutal, sometimes beautiful, search for something new. Nostalgia is not a Comme emotion. Back to the future is more like it. Back to the source doesn’t mean looking back with a gentle eye, but sifting through. Going back is an act of looking for something you might have missed the first time around.
The missing link? Kawakubo talked of “Working with free patterns” and “Using basic materials”. She sent out 11 separate groups – families, couples, tribes, clans, cults – they belonged to each other but were different. Each group had their own mood and music. Some wore recognisable garments (Rosettes on a full skirt topped with a quilted funnel neck poncho that stood proud of the body), other looks were far more abstract (a pilgrim collared black wool box, paired with another box-shaped dress covered in rosettes). Another looked like an exploded dress, its traditional wadding and padding bursting out from within. Like a fashion Big Bang. Welcome to the Comme universe.
Photography courtesy of Comme des Garçons.
