Where Rei Kawakubo Stands Now ①: The Hope She Releases in Dark Times "Politics and clothes are unrelated... but"
2023/11/4 (Saturday) 7:00By Editor/Journalist Masafumi Suzuki
Ms. Rei Kawakubo, who was recently selected as a "Person of Cultural Merit," has continued to present new collections at the Paris Collection for over 40 years as the designer of the global fashion brand "Comme des Garçons." Mr. Masafumi Suzuki, an editor and journalist, covered her show in Paris in September and had an in-depth interview with Ms. Kawakubo in Tokyo in October. In response to a dark world, with wars and conflicts continuing in various places, what is the message that Ms. Kawakubo has embedded in her new works? Mr. Suzuki writes about the "current location" of Ms. Kawakubo and Comme des Garçons. This will be serialized in 5 parts on Asahi Shimbun Digital.
On October 21st, the very day it was announced that she had been chosen as this year's "Person of Cultural Merit," Ms. Rei Kawakubo sent the following comment to the press.
"I am once again grateful that this award was only possible thanks to the strength of the many people who have always helped and spared no cooperation in making clothes, including not only my staff but also the producers, sewing factories, and many others."
"Furthermore, I believe that the state recognizing fashion as culture and promoting academics, literature, and the arts will be a great encouragement that leads to the future development of this field."
"I am powerless in the face of the current social situation and the tragic events happening around the world, but I want to move forward believing that continuing to make clothes while seeking new forms of expression in my own way is one way of being for peace."
Five days prior to this announcement, on October 16th, I was sitting opposite Ms. Kawakubo across a large table at the Comme des Garçons Tokyo office. As usual, Ms. Kawakubo, in her ascetic all-black attire, wore a parachute skirt, a black China shirt buttoned up to the collar, and a tailcoat with the front buttons neatly fastened. She sat with her back perfectly straight, watching me intently.
The first question was about the latest Comme des Garçons collection (for the Spring/Summer 2024 season), which had been presented a little over two weeks prior, on September 30th, during the Women's Fashion Week in Paris. (I wrote my impressions of this collection in the October 29th morning edition of the Asahi Shimbun). What was shown on the runway was a colorful collection filled with a shocking brightness and radiance. That overwhelming mass (masse) of color was not achieved through the empty, albeit splendid, miracles of "progress" like projection mapping—the kind that ancient Romans might faint at the sight of. It was a tangible art, filled with substance, made of fabric meticulously sewn together one by one through patient handwork, something that could be touched and worn. Even the Romans would have surely gasped in awe. Beauty cannot be measured by the standards of "progress."
Rei Kawakubo: "I hope for a bright future"
The designer's feelings embedded in the collection were made clear in a single-sentence English memo distributed to the press on the day of the show. It read: "To break free of the gloomy present, I hope to present a bright and light future."
"The gloomy present," if taken in its conventional sense, refers to the non-peaceful present where "tragic events" (from her October 21st comment) are spreading —starting with the war in Ukraine following Russia's invasion last year, the frequent conflicts, civil wars, and disasters in various parts of the world, and even the rising military tensions in East Asia. Immediately after the show, a new state of war erupted between Israel and Palestine.
What these events invite is a crisis of humanity.
Just as a light at the end of the three-year-long COVID crisis was becoming visible, acts of war—which have the killing of humans as both their goal and their means—began. A "present" has emerged (shuttai) in which the very nature of humanity is being questioned from its roots, and not just questioned, but threatened and destroyed. All activities that should celebrate and affirm human life, including fashion, are thus endangered. Ms. Kawakubo, who had begun creating the Comme des Garçons S/S 2024 collection, (must have) found herself in this "gloomy present," where her vision of the future was obstructed by the plight of humanity, creeping in like a dense fog.
And so, the collection creation that began as a fumbling in the dark culminated in grasping the theme of presenting "a bright and light future" as a "hope."
"It's simply..." Ms. Kawakubo began. "Right now, in society, or rather, all over the world, so many terrible things are happening, and I truly had the feeling that I want this to end, that I want to overcome it and go to a different place. I thought that perhaps everyone else is feeling the same way."
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 put an end to the Cold War, but it was short-lived. In 2001, there were the "simultaneous terrorist attacks" that resulted in the collapse of the World Trade Center in New York and the subsequent war on terror. The Arab Spring, which began in 2010, triggered the civil war in Syria, and in Paris in 2015, the Charlie Hebdo attack occurred. And now, "the times have returned again..." Ms. Kawakubo murmured. Then, after a brief silence, she spoke quietly: "I do like to express heavy things. I don't think politics and clothing are very related, but recently, it's just been too much... This time, it was related (to politics)." She thus suggested that if it weren't for the issue of war and peace, a collection where colors competed for beauty (ken) to such an extent would likely not have been presented.
"(I am not) linking (the issue of war and peace) to fashion, but (now) it just naturally, as a result, becomes that way, doesn't it. It's my own feeling. It just becomes, 'Please, enough already.' Right. Every single day........."
In her comment upon being selected as a Person of Cultural Merit, Ms. Kawakubo stated, "I am powerless in the face of the current social situation and the tragic events happening around the world," but on the other hand, she also declared, "but I want to move forward believing that continuing to make clothes while seeking new forms of expression in my own way is one way of being for peace." However, I do not think Ms. Kawakubo's fashion is powerless. Because I believe that fashion is, at times, a painful cry of the soul seeking freedom. That cry demands strength to be uttered, and when it is uttered, it inspires strength. A cry is not a sign of powerlessness. It is a sign of power. We must cry out when we need to cry out.
At that moment, for some reason, I had thrown Ms. Kawakubo a question: "What would you do if the Japanese government said it would give you the Order of Culture (Bunka Kunsho)?" This was despite having no way of knowing that there was already a movement within the government to select Ms. Kawakubo as a Person of Cultural Merit.
To this question, which came like a ball thrown from a strange direction, Ms. Kawakubo gave a small, bitter laugh and replied, "I think that's a bit impossible," and then responded, "Has fashion in Japan really reached the level of culture...?" avoiding a direct answer.
Incidentally, the French government awarded Ms. Kawakubo the "Ordre des Arts et des Lettres - Chevalier" as early as 1993, and the "Ordre national du Mérite - Officier" in 2004. (To be continued)
