Comme Des Garcons

Rei Kawakubo goes back to black. Her Comme Des Garçons collection was simply titled “Anger“. “This is about my present state of mind. I have anger against everything in the world, especially against myself.” Global conflicts, wars that seems to have no ending, general social unrest. Kawakubo seems to be angry at herself for being in the fashion industry, for its schemes and formats, and for being a designer herself. She instructed some of the show’s models to go out and vent, to break the fourth wall that divides the runway from audience. The third model, dressed in black polyurethane exploded-flare pants and a biker-jacket cape, suddenly did a massive clenched-fist stamp of frustration in the middle of the runway. Another model turned and loomed over some people in the front row, confrontationally invading their space with a bow-front pannier skirt. The constructs of extreme historical tropes of femininity – the pileups of rosettes, panniers, bows, and pompadour wigs – seemed to be on the brink of sarcastic self-parody. But then, a bride in white appeared in the show’s finale. Maybe there’s some light of hope at the end of this dark tunnel?