Comme des Garcons S/S 2006 Paris

[nr9dream]

Pls correct me if I’m wrong but you might be creating a false argument f/Travolta here? As I think the Q. was more how can you be making complex statements about ‘corrupt systems’ & social/political issues when you’re essentially designing fashion and part of that system….where Travolta speculated she might be pulling everyone’s leg and I think she doesn’t have the pretension to want to change the world…just experiment w/visuals in an artful way & innovate within the fashion sphere…

Though one could ask oneself in the greater scheme of things what is the point of it all but then you can just stop discussing really?

 

[jennifer~]

Imagine I've been speaking through travolta, regarding my thoughts on this one...

 

[softgrey]

well, i do agree that in a way she is full of bullsh*t. as much as i adore the woman. i was having a conversation just last night with a friend who is blissfully out of touch with the world of fashion, and i was telling him about comme des garcons. his reaction was: how can she be avant-garde if she is a wealthy woman desiging clothing for wealthy people? what is truely innovative about that? i think of avant-garde and i think of people at the end of their rope innovating out of necessity not out of the amusement of other people, esp. the elite.

you know what i had to agree with him. but, i still can't really knock her, because i think rei has successfully breached the system and in a way, yes, we are all her pawns, and she's reached a level of responsiblity. humor me while i delve into another over-intellectualized musing ... i think maybe she understands she is worshipped by the fashion elite and she really could throw out something completely pretentious and many would not know the better. i guess she has reached rock star status (rolling stones references anyone?) and now she's playing around with the concept of her as an icon?
anyways, i guess it's her duty now to keep her followers, and those in 'the know' on their toes, and i guess, in a way, imho, that sums up her contribution.

nr9...travolta said both of those things in this post of hers...
i simply take exception to the first...
but given some time..travolta may change her perspective...(again)...
as i don't think she has completely formulated one..
and is using this forum to develop one...

....

 

[travolta]

Pls correct me if I’m wrong but you might be creating a false argument f/Travolta here? As I think the Q. was more how can you be making complex statements about ‘corrupt systems’ & social/political issues when you’re essentially designing fashion and part of that system….where Travolta speculated she might be pulling everyone’s leg and I think she doesn’t have the pretension to want to change the world…just experiment w/visuals in an artful way & innovate within the fashion sphere…

Though one could ask oneself in the greater scheme of things what is the point of it all but then you can just stop discussing really?

thank you nr9dream for putting it much more succinctly.

i guess you cannot talk about innovation or anything of relevance within an insular environment, esp. fashion, without referring to to the larger world.
also, i didn't literally mean you needed to be poor to innovate -- even my art school educated mind isn't as simplistic as that. i applaud and respect rei for what she does, but i simply want to ask: does she actually innovate? to ask that question you have to think about innovation broadly. rei created a brand around being avant-garde, but does that mean she's too contrived, therefore, contradicting herself as an avant-garde designer? but, because fashion is largely about collective thought, does that mean she is actually considered innovative?

nr9...travolta said both of those things in this post of hers...
i simply take exception to the first...
but given some time..travolta may change her perspective...(again)...
as i don't think she has completely formulated one..
and is using this forum to develop one...

....

i think it's a healthy perspective to feel as if you haven't fully formed one. i also think you can intellectualize fashion -- i'm proof of this, because i've certainly learned a lot from this forum.

 

[softgrey]

maybe travolta...
but it is also healthy to have a point of view......

nothing wrong with asking the questions...
i hope you find your answers...

 

[Lena]

i applaud and respect rei for what she does, but i simply want to ask: does she actually innovate? to ask that question you have to think about innovation broadly. rei created a brand around being avant-garde, but does that mean she's too contrived, therefore, contradicting herself as an avant-garde designer? but, because fashion is largely about collective thought, does that mean she is actually considered innovative?

ok, my two cents here..
i dont find Kawakubo 'innovative' as much as i find her 'experimental'
in my book, Chanel was innovative, Christian Dior, Christobal Balenciaga, Mary Quant and Biba were innovative, since their vision actually changed the way people dress down the street..


experimental designers seem more interested in making something new than in actually adding up new shapes people can actually live in..

i'm certainly not downsizing Rei's contribution to fashion esthetics, to me shes a revolutionary in experimenting with forms but she doesnt really touch the base customer
of course, maybe in twenty years i'll be eating my words.. but for the time being this is how i see this issue

 

[travolta]

maybe travolta...
but it is also healthy to have a point of view......

nothing wrong with asking the questions...
i hope you find your answers...

how is a conviction to learn not a point of view? it's much more rational than have an unshakable belief in things you don't fully understand.

 

[nqth]

How about Rei's "black", Lena:-P?

 

[maraschin0]

Rei is amazing! I personally love the crowns. The clothes look a bit rocker but I still like them.

 

[Lena]

How about Rei's "black", Lena:-P?

what do you mean by Rei's black??
women were wearing black before Rei no?
i dont understand the question ngth
and dont get me wrong, i'm not dissing her by not regarding her as innovative..
shes far more innovative/influencial in her 'architecture' as in CDG shops/displays or her concepts than her in design..
just my opinion anyway..

 

[nqth]

Yes, I know that black is always in fashion but I think she made it a statement. Kind of a timeless symbol of anti fashion, "intelectual", not beautiful, pretty, ugly, "in" or "old"... It is not innovative in the design point of view, of course, but it is if I think of aesthetics.

I think innovative is not necessarily influental. Miyake, for instance, with his textile treatments or APOC is not seen very often in the street. But one can always use the innovation in smaller scale, so that people can follow. All the undone things we see in the streets today is taken from Kawakubo, Yamamoto....

I think if Chanel is revolutionary in the mean that women can be "free to love". Rei Kawakubo is saying that women can be "free to everything". In a clothes point of view of course:-P

I think she is innovative in the way she treats clothes. She prooved that fashion can be interesting without sewing and cutting, colours and perfection... everything that fashion always has been before.

 

[morbidexistence]

what the h***??? this is scary. not my cup of tea, sorry.

 

[arlekindearrabal]

the more i look at this, the more i'm convinced this is a critique on both the pervasiveness of London over the modern fashion system, a critique to modern imperialism, and an hommage to the queen of cool britannia herself, vivienne westwood... all at once

 

[aldo]

or with vivienne westwood?

ha! FIRST thing i thought when seeing this.

 

[Honey~Blade]

Any idea if any of those pieces work on a guy?

 

[Colette_B]

^the crowns and some of the shorts maybe

 

[Honey~Blade]

In the 3rd pic on the first post...is that a diagonally cut jacket or has it just been folded in like that? ^^;

 

[faust]

the more i look at this, the more i'm convinced this is a critique on both the pervasiveness of London over the modern fashion system, a critique to modern imperialism, and an hommage to the queen of cool britannia herself, vivienne westwood... all at once

yawn.

 

[ultramarine]

Hum ... Rei not being street? Lena's got a point ... and Travolta does as well ... I agree about not her being a major force nowadays .. maybe for the connoisseur, but not to the masses ... I wonder if everyone will be wearing lumps in 20 years ...

 

[softgrey]

Yes, I know that black is always in fashion but I think she made it a statement. Kind of a timeless symbol of anti fashion, "intelectual", not beautiful, pretty, ugly, "in" or "old"... It is not innovative in the design point of view, of course, but it is if I think of aesthetics.

I think innovative is not necessarily influental. Miyake, for instance, with his textile treatments or APOC is not seen very often in the street. But one can always use the innovation in smaller scale, so that people can follow. All the undone things we see in the streets today is taken from Kawakubo, Yamamoto....

I think if Chanel is revolutionary in the mean that women can be "free to love". Rei Kawakubo is saying that women can be "free to everything". In a clothes point of view of course:-P

I think she is innovative in the way she treats clothes. She prooved that fashion can be interesting without sewing and cutting, colours and perfection... everything that fashion always has been before.

absolutely agree with this nqth.......
innovation and influence do not necessarily go hand in hand...