MET Costume Institute Exhibition 2017 : Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons

[MulletProof]

^^^ That would be insanely foolish if the show was mainly focused on her last few years worth of work.

that would be dreamy as I can't go .. imagine the horror of an 80's-mid 90s retrospective, magazine issues included.. NO! (I would be there though)

Cannot wait to see them all dressed like a Jeremy Scott front row tomorrow.. comme des garcons..

 

[fluxxx]

Burberry posted their sketches for MET Gala on their snapchat

 

[Solaris]

Vogue US invited Raf Simons, Miuccia Prada, Riccardo Tisci, Stella McCartney, Olsen Sisters, Alexander Wang, Vera Wang, Michael Kors & Lance LePere, Diane von Furstenberg & Barry Diller, Marcus Wainwright, Marc Jacobs, Alessandro Michele, Donatella Versace, Mario Testino, Nicole Kiman & Keith Urban, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian & Kanye West, Anne Hathaway & Adam Shulman, Julianne Moore, Zendaya, Hugh Jackman & Deborra-Lee Furness, Gigi Hadid, Karlie Kloss, Winklevoss Brothers, Cam Newton, André Leon Talley, Plum Sykes & Toby Rowland, Charlie Shaffer & Elizabeth Cordry, Kevin Systrom & Nicole Systrom.

 

[Yohji]

Seems like members in here have finally learnt something after all these years: Getting your hopes so high about a gala attended mainly by vapid teenyboppers and actresses is setting yourself for quite a dissapointment. [\B]

Also if my memory serves me right this thread should be about the pieces that are to be displayed and the catalogue, the one about the red carpet (that includes all the info you mentioned) is usually opened that very day...

Right, and I guess it has nothing to do with the fact this board is completely dead nowadays...

Sure, there are a lot of teenybopper types who attend, but I think there's enough variety for the event to not be totally dominated by them. Plenty of credible actors, models, political figures, designers, editors and sports people turn up every year. I just don't pay attention to them.

 

[eugenius]

Has anybody mentioned the pink elephant in the room? No, not Kim in whatever ballgown Aunt Viv squeezes her into, but I'm talking about how un-Comme, anti-Rei the Met Gala is, and now it's being held in her honor? Explain this to me.

I think this is a classic case of Rei starting to show her senility in her old age.

 

[Pricciao]

Maybe more Homme Plus options to be expected?

 

[RedSmokeRise]

I wouldn't mind seeing some Homme Plus looks on the red carpet / being displayed. The last few collections have been pretty amazing compared to the RTW.

 

[Lola701]

Has anybody mentioned the pink elephant in the room? No, not Kim in whatever ballgown Aunt Viv squeezes her into, but I'm talking about how un-Comme, anti-Rei the Met Gala is, and now it's being held in her honor? Explain this to me.

I think this is a classic case of Rei starting to show her senility in her old age.

But maybe this has more to do with people's views on her brand and her persona than what she really is.

For some reasons, people always expect from "intellectual" or "experimental" designers to be against everything mainstream. In her long career, Rei has proved that she wasn't afraid of doing something unexpected.

CDG is a real force of fashion and i'm sure she was thrilled or flattered by the fact that they wanted to do an exhibition for her.

She is reclusive herself but has never been against anyone or anything wanting to be associated with her brand.
And What is so Un-Comme? Celebrity culture?
She had celebrities walking in her shows back in the day...

 

[YohjiAddict]

Has anybody mentioned the pink elephant in the room? No, not Kim in whatever ballgown Aunt Viv squeezes her into, but I'm talking about how un-Comme, anti-Rei the Met Gala is, and now it's being held in her honor? Explain this to me.

I think this is a classic case of Rei starting to show her senility in her old age.

In what way is the creative head of a multi-million dollar company beyond collaborating with one of the biggest museums in the world? If she's been so succesful it's because she knows how to work whitin the constraints of the mainstream and use them to her advantage.

She admitted that the reason she agreed to this exhibition is to leave it as a reference for future ones, she probably came to the conclusion that few museums in the world would be able to realize her vision as fully as the MET and that she could perfectly ignore the celebrity fan-fare around the event. She weighed the pros and cons-much like a buisness person does.

Also weren't we already beyond these kind of arguments after the 2013 Punk exhibtion?

 

[eugenius]

In what way is the creative head of a multi-million dollar company beyond collaborating with one of the biggest museums in the world? If she's been so succesful it's because she knows how to work whitin the constraints of the mainstream and use them to her advantage.

She admitted that the reason she agreed to this exhibition is to leave it as a reference for future ones, she probably came to the conclusion that few museums in the world would be able to realize her vision as fully as the MET and that she could perfectly ignore the celebrity fan-fare around the event. She weighed the pros and cons-much like a buisness person does.

Also weren't we already beyond these kind of arguments after the 2013 Punk exhibtion?

I agree.

 

[jexxica]

To discuss celebs: http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f5...kubo-comme-des-gar-ons-red-carpet-291823.html

 

[YohjiAddict]

Our first look at the exhibition: http://www.vogue.com/article/rei-ka...s-art-of-the-in-between-exhibit-andrew-bolton

 

[Phuel]

^^^^ Thanks for the link.

Wished they had gone for some complete looks rather than just dress and occasional wig on a hanger/mannequin template. It just feel incomplete, archival, and even carelessly restrained— which may be the point since a complete look can distract from a certain piece. With Comme, there are so many powerful looks from the eras, that to just present all her designs this way seems to diminish their visual potency.

 

[MulletProof]

jeez, are we at the new wells fargo headquarters? gagosian? general hospital? .. starting to wonder what even drove the whole thing given how cold and hollow it all turned out (organization and entire gala yesterday, that first look which makes you want it to be the last).. it's like a machiavellian battle of bobs in which Anna knows the best strategy is not to antagonize you or let you rejoice in your evident superiority but make you feel her weight by sinking you with honors.

 

[YohjiAddict]

The gallery views video is finally available: http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2017/rei-kawakubo

 

[Phuel]

jeez, are we at the new wells fargo headquarters? gagosian? general hospital? .. starting to wonder what even drove the whole thing given how cold and hollow it all turned out (organization and entire gala yesterday, that first look which makes you want it to be the last).. it's like a machiavellian battle of bobs in which Anna knows the best strategy is not to antagonize you or let you rejoice in your evident superiority but make you feel her weight by sinking you with honors.

If it were up to Rei, she'd likely transplant the show to Fargo-- that would be an experience...

Comme’s never been about posh interiors, plush settings, and starpower etc— and thank Rei for that, so even a warehouse somewhere in North Dakota, with concrete floors and blanks of particle boards strewn about is good-- even ideal… Comme is pure design high. But this direction is just so Uniqlo-feel here. And it’s kind of unforgivable to stack some exhibits way up high instead of eye level— I guess unless you’re an Ridley’s Engineers. I don’t want to be looking up the dresses.

And looking at the two “Bob Titans” Rei and Anna, it’s so clear the division between the embodiment of creative visionary and the hollow shell of soulless corporation, with both wielding such an iron-fisted influence over fashiondom. You really can’t make this stuff up.

Rei looking so effortlessly chic and naturally striking in black motorcycle jacket, blunt bob and calm ferocity— and at 74-yo to boot. Anna looking like a bland, typical WorkingGirl-boss in soulless Chanel. Truth is stranger than fiction.

I can’t wait to own the book of this show.

 

[Uemarasan]

Uniqlo has always used great designers for its interiors. Wonderwall and Kashiwa Sato are both exceptional. I don't know how that is even a criticism.

 

[MulletProof]

^ some cities are totally neglected though (LA and NY are worlds apart for example!).

Phuel, I was thinking about that vitrine way up too, with that fugly cheap Walmart lighting.. makes you want to climb it and rescue these beauties. I don't know why I let these Sarah Moon pics influence my expectations and think it would be all precise lighting and devotion to every piece, mystical energy, thinking hard, blahblah.. this looks 100% like the type of place that the moment you walk in, you start debating in your head about the places you could eat at after you leave. Would still drop by if I was in the neighborhood anyway.. better than nothing.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ If only the show was really at some abandoned Walmart in upstate New York— or realistically, Kmart, since that chain is closing at the speed that Comme churns out all these diffusion labels… Like when Comme started these pop-up shops in the Japanese suburbs.

People are too obediently attached to names and always want to defend the ones that they admire when they may feel there’s an attack: Whether it’s Alaia, Yves, Rei... Lemaire’s mainline menswear’s coats is awesome and a couple of them from the A/W 2017 will be mine this fall, but his offerings for the men’s Uniqlo is beyond dull dull dull. So I really don’t care that it’s the MET and Comme— I’d be tempted to climb up there as well and bring those pieces down to eye-level. I want to see the details and textures. Throwing those designs up there all comes off as we-ran-out-of-spots-for-these-so-let’s just-stack-them-up-there-like-deadstock.

 

[YohjiAddict]

Personally I like the idea of a raised display but I wish there was a way to access the upper level. The Walmart lighting IMO works really well with the space-which as someone commented earlier was designed by Rei herself.

Many members complained that celebrities invited to the MET Gala don't give a damn about the exhibition and so far they are yet to give any kind of comment on it.