Rei’s ‘guerrilla’

[Lena]

Rei is a genious, here her new project that i'm so looking forward to

Rei’s ‘Guerrilla’ Approach
By Miles Socha PARIS
— Retail maverick Rei Kawakubo is about to unveil a campaign against shopping uniformity and architectural grandeur. Next month, in a remote neighborhood in the former East Berlin, Kawakubo plans to unveil her first Comme des Garçons “guerrilla” store, a temporary fashion operation whose concept is more akin to an artist’s squat than a luxury fashion temple.
“It only lasts one year, and we don’t do anything to the place,” explained Adrian Joffe, managing director of Comme des Garçons in Paris. “We just go in there, clean it up and open for business.”
The 750-square-foot Berlin store, for example, will be in the gallery-studded frontier neighborhood Mitte, in a former bookstore located next to the Bertolt Brecht museum.
Aside from the necessary fixtures for a fashion store — a sign, clothing racks, a cash desk and fixtures — the existing decor, or lack of it, is left intact. Joffe said the Berlin space, with its raw concrete walls and floor, has “incredible atmosphere,” but the idea is to put the focus on the merchandise. “What counts is the product,” he said in an interview.
“What’s important is interesting, good products, not multimillion-dollar architectural interventions.”
A second guerrilla unit is slated to bow in Barcelona in early March.
Other targeted cities include Vilnius in Lithuania, Ljubljana in Slovenia and Warsaw.
“There’s a lot of interest from Eastern Europe,” Joffe noted. However, he said he could also envision guerrilla stores in other Western Europe countries and the United States.
In each city, Comme des Garçons plans to partner with local entrepreneurs, who sign the lease and run the shop. Joffe said he and Kawakubo are charged with selecting the merchandise, an eclectic mix of new items from her various collections; selected out-of-season and vintage pieces, sneakers and other products are selected by the local partners.

from wwd

 

[nqth]

Warsaw!!! Can't believe it. Can't wait for it.
Thanks so much Lena for the gooood news :-)

 

[Lena]

can wait for those shops to open, an extra reason to finally visit beautiful Warsaw ngth.. c u soon

 

[nqth]

Comme has opened a lot of new shops recently, in St. Petersburgh (Russia) and Antwerp. Their shops are fantastic. The Osaka Red shop has a shocking zebra b/w floor and enormous red plactic "cube" inside. The Kyoto shop is front-black and fotograph - printed all over the walls. It looks like the fogotten lab of a lost cilivization :-)

But I never thought of Warsaw as their interest. (We do have fews Zaras and HMs here, thank you:-)

And you are soo welcome to Warsaw, Lena :-)

Here is the Kyoto shop :-) with the Catherine Wagner's "-86 Degree Freezers" photos
from http://www.wirtzgallery.com/works/wagner/2...2002_frame.html

 

[ignitioned32]

Hmm.. I like the idea. I would love to visit Warsaw.

 

[nqth]

and the Osaka one

 

[ignitioned32]

Stunning.

 

[nqth]

more Osaka

 

[Lena]

beautiful photo, thanks for sharing the news ngth

ps. the way Rei is going, i'm very tempted to trail her new shops when they open, so yes, its a very good reason to visit beautiful Warsaw

 

[nqth]

Ignitioned32, you are welcome, too :-)
Warsaw is waiting for fashion's friends :-)

 

[ignitioned32]

Thank you, ngth.

 

[Meg]

ooh sounds fabulous. I am going to Berlin in March so I will see if I can go and check it out!

 

[tealady]

I would love to return to Berlin as well -- wish I saw a trip there and to Warsaw in my future. Alas, no.

 

[Spacemiu]

:wow! I thinke very one here knwos how extaticly obsesed iam with Comme des Garcons,a nd if you didn't now you doheart:

This is a wonderful, creative idea, i leik ti alot, very punk almsot.

I hope they start up one in L.A. ( i know there used to be a store on melrose but for some reason it closed)

 

[Christopher31]

Very interesting and attractive idea.... wouldn't mind visiting one of these stores if i didn't live half way across the world. Rei Kawakubo is amazing

 

[Meg]

Well I'm back from Berlin and made a special stop to the Berlin shop! Unfortunately it was closed, however i took some photos for all my fellow tfspotters! It was as 'guerrilla' as i expected. it was a fairly normal, basic looking shop. Okay i can't upload my photos because they are too big and my editing program won't resize them so if i can email them to a mod to resize that would be most excellent....

 

[nqth]

Originally posted by mehg@Mar 15th, 2004 - 7:44 pm
Okay i can't upload my photos because they are too big and my editing program won't resize them so if i can email them to a mod to resize that would be most excellent....

Please please do:-)

 

[nqth]

The new Guerrilla shop will be open on 19 of March in Barcelona in Riera Sant Miguel str.

Other shops are to open in LA, Brooklyn NY, HongKong and Stockholm.

There is already Happy Army Shop in Tokyo (Jan - June) - in the place of previous (and closed after 10 Corso Como opened) The Orange Door (Come 2).

(from http://www.fashionunited.nl/nieuws/winkel2.htm)

 

[faust]

Originally posted by Christopher31@Jan 26th, 2004 - 8:13 pm
Very interesting and attractive idea.... wouldn't mind visiting one of these stores if i didn't live half way across the world. Rei Kawakubo is amazing

They will be opening one in Brooklyn, so you are saved. The location is not disclosed yet.

 

[Christopher31]

Thanks for the infor nqth and faust! If you come across any info on the LA store (when its opening and its location) let me know. Let space know too. hah

Christopher