Comme des Garcons S/S 2006 Paris

[saann]

I don't like all the heartshaped-looking pieces in this collection

 

[Johnny]

i guess if i were to strip it down to what her main message is: wear whatever you need to wear, irregular looking, a bit unpolished whatever and feel good about it.

I like that thought (although I myself can't really think of what her main message might be in all of this....in fact I think it's slightly confused, but there's nothing wrong with that).

I really don't know if many of these runway pieces ever sell. I've never seen anyone buying a mainline comme piece from Paris or London. It's all shirt line, Junya, menswear. But as always, there will be little sinmple pieces based on this stuff that will sell. No one could really wear this stuff, as it is presented, in some of the more extreme forms.... but it remains beautiful to look at, to me, and that can't be bad.

 

[nr9dream]

(…) For Ms. Kawakubo, England's lost empire - expressed in Union Jack knits, tartans and makeshift crowns (wired by the milliner Stephen Jones from bits of old jewelry and auto parts) - was the nominal theme. Her real achievement was to make dresses and jackets from single lengths of tartan, camouflage and Polynesian flower prints, often combining them in one outfit, and using her hands to drape and mold the fabric into imposingly regal shoulders.

"God knows how we're going to produce the clothes," said Adrian Joffe, the designer's husband, adding that Ms. Kawakubo thought her last collection was too pretty (…) Cathy Horyn

from www.nytimes.com

Very much in the tradition of CdG: much more an experiment in technique with striking visual effect than a clear theme… I like your explanation Travolta & interesting info about the history of Tartan Helena….I do however get a strong 'iconoclast' vibe from this – especially in the juxtaposing of prints & in the light of recent CdG collections…

 

[softgrey]

Her real achievement was to make dresses and jackets from single lengths of tartan, camouflage and Polynesian flower prints, often combining them in one outfit, and using her hands to drape and mold the fabric into imposingly regal shoulders.

thanks nr9...
nqth ws pretty close...he said it was about the 'twist'...

once again the theme proves to be simple and more about the craft and the designer than all that other intellectualization...

there is a great line from a song...
'a writer writes for himself, not for you'...
i think this is very often true with creative types...
they do this to satisfy some need within themselves...
and if it speaks to other people...then great...
but mostly they do it for themselves...


lucky them...
lucky me...
....

 

[Johnny]

from www.nytimes.com

Very much in the tradition of CdG: much more an experiment in technique with striking visual effect than a clear theme… I like your explanation Travolta & interesting info about the history of Tartan Helena….I do however get a strong 'iconoclast' vibe from this – especially in the juxtaposing of prints & in the light of recent CdG collections…

Interesting. I agree about the technique thing, although she's used the same technique before (in a recent S/S collection). I like how she moved away from the last collection when it was one of her most critically lauded for ages - she got some kind of 8 minute standing ovation afte the Broken Bride thing. Ultimately I think what people find appealling about CdG is this kind of attitude - it seems so obvious, even commonplace (to be "iconoclastic" or to not rest on one's laurels) but who else does it with such vigour and utter commitment?

 

[travolta]

her brand is founded on the idea of being an iconoclast...she just has to keep true to her brand image!! smart woman, she's turned fashion's biggest weakness into her golden egg.

 

[helena]

^^^ adrian joffe said that RK thought her last collection was 'too pretty'. She rebels against herself.

 

[travolta]

thanks nr9...
nqth ws pretty close...he said it was about the 'twist'...

once again the theme proves to be simple and more about the craft and the designer than all that other intellectualization...

there is a great line from a song...
'a writer writes for himself, not for you'...
i think this is very often true with creative types...
they do this to satisfy some need within themselves...
and if it speaks to other people...then great...
but mostly they do it for themselves...


lucky them...
lucky me...
....

that may be true soft that we'll never know what she is really thinking or if he even matters, but i disagree that it's all about the craft. the runway is meant to be an open ended narrative that is full of symbolism and allows the fashion editors and others to dissect whatever she puts forward. it's performance art meant to be intellectualized.

the craft is necessary in the end to sell, but remember she is always interested in breaking taboos and creating a cultural dialogue. it just so happens she can also make some clothes that sell

 

[softgrey]

i was thinking that myself actually helena...

she did this last spring as well...
after the GORGEOUS witches collection of f/w 04...

it seems to bug her if she's not an outsider...
she'll put a foot in...but then jumps back out...

she's a funny one...

ps-i don't think they have to worry to much about producing this colleciton...

 

[softgrey]

that may be true soft that we'll never know what she is really thinking or if he even matters, but i disagree that it's all about the craft. the runway is meant to be an open ended narrative that is full of symbolism and allows the fashion editors and others to dissect whatever she puts forward. it's performance art meant to be intellectualized.

HOGWASH...!!......
it's nothing of the sort...
that may be what some would like it to be...
but it is in reality a vehicle for showing the clothing to the buyers and editors in order to sell a product....
simple as that...

and a striking presentation is simply good for business...

the craft is necessary in the end to sell, but remember she is always interested in breaking taboos and creating a cultural dialogue. it just so happens she can also make some clothes that sell

of course...
and that is the reason she is still in business after all these years...
because the clothes SELL....

 

[The Baron]

This one is still gelling for me, but I do like it, and it does feel like Rei's play with icons has finally come to fruition.

I think this is a very multi-layered show. This "Lost Empire" theme has a lot of resonances. The "Land of Hope and Glory" stuff could read as patriotic to one person, and satirical to another...I imagine the intent is for both meanings to be conveyed together, to prod the viewer into working out their own resolution to that dissonance.

The handicraft of it is very prominent, and very visible. I may be reaching too far here, but in a way the collection itself is an empire, and Rei the empress of it. It could be something as simple as a celebration of the mastery of textiles and technique, the regal feeling of shaping the clothes and controlling their destiny. And then, to let them go, to send them out on the runway and lose that control.

And there, too, maybe it's both a celebration and a satire, because the fashion industry itself is also an empire, and one that seems to be in increasing danger of being "Lost". This harks back to what travolta said earlier in the thread:

nothing is timeless, fallen beasts and empires and ideologies. they are acknowlegding that it's time fashion enter a new era... one that isn't perhaps so reliant on conjuring up crusted over nostalgia to sell to the masses.

So maybe that message is in there, too. Maybe the clash between the "tribal" tartans and the "imperial" flags and crowns says something about the current state of fashion and the assimilation of tribal house identities into corporate conglomerates.

But out of all of these, it feels most like this is celebrating Rei as the queen of her own work, the hand that touches the cloth, the feeling of new shapes and new textures.

There is an obvious joy evident in the making of these garments. It will be interesting to see how they translate this to the stores, but there is definitely beauty here. An odd, provocative beauty, but beauty nonetheless.

 

[travolta]

HOGWASH...!!......
it's nothing of the sort...
that may be what some would like it to be...
but it is in reality a vehicle for showing the clothing to the buyers and editors in order to sell a product....
simple as that...

and a striking presentation is simply good for business...

that's actually what i meant exactly

edit: i'm just a bit round about and abstract at spitting it out

 

[softgrey]

you're kidding?!?!......


thanks for making me laugh today....

 

[travolta]

^ hey, i never said being a pragmatist was one of my strengths ...

 

[travolta]

it would be interesting if she actually sold wraps with arm holes/ legholes that you could customize to a shirt/ dress/ pants etc etc..so on and so forth. kinda like the Undercover collection except with some tartan pattern and lots more variations. 3 shirts/ 1 pair of trousers/ 2 skirts and a dress thrown in for good measure ;P

 

[nqth]

I just love it. Remember the "one piece" of Linea? She made "square piece" in AW03 - jkts, bags out of a square piece of fabric. Now it is one piece to the extreme:-) as it looks like it's a long piece of fabrics twisted into clothes.

I can't believe that the clothes (joint of different parts of the garment together, an officer jkt, a huge tartan and a giant skirt) are real:-)) Like I couldn't believe she actually sew the camouflage tapes in the SS collection some years ago. I thought it was a trick:-))


I read some of the "iconoclast words" in the crowns:-) too. But I think the clothes don't look punkish to me. It's not about angry, or anti... It looks powerful. Like the red jkt with big shoulder pads. So it was a suprise when I read IHT. Do you think it's punk, Helena and Johnny? You know better than I:-)

I don't know what she meant by "lost empire". Maybe it was shown in the end when models wore crowns in ther shorts. It looks just funny:-) - one never looks serious in shorts:-P

It strikes me how by using "simple" and "primitive" techniques - like the wrap and twist she made such a wonderful collection. And thanks for the explanation Helena:-)

I have heard the the main line of SS was selling out so fast that the Guerrillas hardly got a piece. Yes, Johnny, I also have heard about long standing ovation, too:-)

 

[Johnny]

Great post Nqth, always like to hear what you say on comme, given your knowledge of past collections etc. "one never looks serious in shorts" is one of my favourite statements from Tfs! It's nice to hear a simple light-hearted truth in this over-intellectualised world we (virtually) inhabit

 

[nqth]

Thank you Johnny:-)

Maybe she pointed out "lost fashion (empire)"? The clothes don't
look "tailored" do they:-P

 

[softgrey]

mainline of SS...
do you mean the bondage ballerina stuff nqth?...
they can have it from the US stores then...
it didn't sell over here...



nqth...speaking as a punk myself...
it's pretty much just anything or anyone who is anti-establishment...
someone or thing that doesn't follow the rules...usually of society...
challenges the system, etc...
rebelliousness is the main thing....
and in that sense...i would say that rei is and always has been a 'punk'...


but i think that fashion people immediately say PUNK anytime they see red tartan...
...

edit -
just like they say GOTH anytime they see black....

 

[nqth]

mainline of SS...
do you mean the bondage ballerina stuff nqth?...
they can have it from the US stores then...
it didn't sell over here...

Oh sorry, I did write SS instead of AW :-) I mean the Broken Bride collection.

Thanks for the explaination:-) Yes, she is and must be the most "established" punk :-P