The energy felt rejuvenated in Paris this season. Undoubtedly, this was down to the Japanese brands being back in town. Issey Miyake, Junya Watanabe and Comme des Garçons each held shows on Parisian soil for the first time since the pandemic broke. With her, Rei Kawakubo brought a sinister sneer by way of clown-like costumes and horrifying face masks which were a bit like if the kid from Where The Wild Things Are had taken part in The Purge.
In her synonymously elusive show notes, Kawakubo wrote that she was thinking of court jesters of the Middle Ages: “Often they would be close advisors of the king. Coming from a different world with original ways of thinking, they would have the right to speak freely and give honest insights and advice,” she penned.
She lavished her signature boyish shorts in red and yellow pinstripes and Harley Quinn diamonds, paired with frockcoats and glistening black suit jackets which echoed a jester’s uniform with pointed, triangular-cut hemlines.
Some pieces came inserted with hoops, evoking cartoonish silhouttes that swished from side to side as models moved to a mash-up of classic horror movie soundtracks, each helmeted in wickidly spiked wigs which grazed the roof of the showspace.
Kawakubo called the collection Another Kind of Punk; that benieth their brightly hued costumes, lied another side to these jesters – one that felt sinister, unnerving and brilliant, all at once. It’s great to have you back, Rei.
Photography courtesy of Comme des Garçons Homme Plus.
