the CDG London Market

[kit]

There's a headline on WGSN to the effect that Rei Kawakubo is to open a ' multi - brand ' store in London .

Sorry , I know no more than that .

KIT

 

[nqth]

Originally posted by kit@Mar 18th, 2004 - 1:22 pm
There's a headline on WGSN to the effect that Rei Kawakubo is to open a ' multi - brand ' store in London .

Kawakubo to Open A London Market
Mar 18 2004
PARIS — Rei Kawakubo is about to make more retail waves.

Hot on the heels of her new Comme des Garçons guerrilla stores — the latest of which is slated to bow Friday in Barcelona — the fashion maverick is sweeping into central London this fall with a six-story venture mixing office space with assorted fashion and other retail ventures.

----
It's a lead from wwd.com

Could someone who has subscription post the whole article, please:-)
Thanks.

 

[Lena]

here you go fellow cdg lovers, the full text of the wwd article

Kawakubo to Open A London Market

By Miles Socha

PARIS — Rei Kawakubo is about to make more retail waves.

Hot on the heels of her new Comme des Garçons guerrilla stores — the latest of which is slated to bow Friday in Barcelona — the fashion maverick is sweeping into central London this fall with a six-story venture mixing office space with assorted fashion and other retail ventures.

Kawakubo won’t disclose the identity of her subtenants until she completes agreements in the coming weeks. But what she’s calling “The Dover Street Market” promises to unite famous names and emerging talents from the worlds of fashion, design and beyond.

“I want to create a kind of market where various people from all walks of life gather and encounter each other in an ongoing atmosphere of strong and beautiful chaos,” the designer said in a statement.

Kawakubo will head the creative direction of the 13,000-square-foot operation, in consultation with Comme des Garçons staff and what she’s calling a “think tank committee.” Comme des Garçons owns the lease, with other participants operating concessions or penning joint-venture agreements with the Japanese designer firm.

Adrian Joffe, Comme des Garçons’ managing director in Paris, likened the concept to the Kensington Market of yore. He gave few specifics, but said about two-thirds of the space would be devoted to retail, with six to eight anchor tenants, and up to 20 other enterprises, some with small “stalls.”

The retail portion would include several of Comme des Garçons’ 10 collections showcased throughout the complex, but merchandise won’t be limited to fashion and could include furniture, flowers, food and perhaps even services like hairstyling, Joffe said.

“It’s not a department store, and it’s not a concept store,” he stressed. “We want to maintain an ongoing atmosphere of creative tension.”

Office tenants would be in the vein of graphic designers and artistic consultants, “not fund managers,” Joffe noted.

The building, next door to Browns Hotel, is currently being gutted to make way for Kawakubo’s retail variety show, but without any extraordinary architectural statement, Joffe emphasized. “It’s not about interior design. That’s why we can open in two months.”

The Comme des Garçons boutique on Brook Street in London, a franchise unit operated since 1987 by Joan Burstein of Browns, is slated to go dark in July to make way for the Dover Street project.

“We’ve been very happy working with Browns, and [Burstein] will always remain the diva of Comme des Garçons in London,” Joffe said, noting that Browns will continue to carry one or two of its lines in its main store on South Molton Street.

Kawakubo’s plan for London exemplifies the designer’s recent penchant for creative collaborations and unorthodox retail ventures.

Over the past year, the designer has collaborated with designers including Azzedine Alaïa, Vivienne Westwood, Fred Perry and Peggy Moffitt, the keeper of Rudi Gernreich’s fashion legacy.

Last month in Berlin, Kawakubo opened the first of her so-called guerrilla stores, which exist for one year only in frontier neighborhoods and sell an eclectic mix of new and out-of-season Comme des Garçons lines. A network of as many as 20 guerrilla units is planned. Forthcoming locations include Beirut, Lebanon; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Singapore, and Prague.

 

[Spacemiu]

amazing, soudns liek such a artistic commune meets store, space.

 

[tott]

I think I'll have to plan a trip to London...

 

[leyla m.]

great!
even though i really like the store on brook.. nut thought that the connection between them and browns was weird (the SA there just somehow was different than we were at browns)

but i like that CDG is moving UP and making more of what is a reknowned worldwide label

 

[Acid]

i was considering going in there today actually.......but i never really like the clothes much

they sell that junya watanabe label downstairs in CDG in brook street

 

[nqth]

Amazing project, it could look like an "exclusive squat" :-) No doubt London is a right place to make such a wonderful project, too.

Thanks Lena for posting.

 

[datura001]

It sounds really cool and almost liquid, as if what were in there could or would change over night. I like it!

 

[softgrey]

very innovative...

 

[ahhGucci]

How cool would that be, a store that changes over night, good thinking datura.

 

[softgrey]

Originally posted by ahhGucci@Mar 20th, 2004 - 9:00 pm
How cool would that be, a store that changes over night, good thinking datura.

it'd be murder to work there...you'd be up all night changing stuff...

or you might lose your job altogether if the store changeded completely and they brought their own staff...

 

[Johnny]

This must be the most interesting bit of fashion news I've heard for a long time. Funny that a few of us were mentinoing that the London store was a bit lacking. It sounds amazing. One of the pasters (can't remember who) is right about CDG's change of direction. I was speaking to a SA in Paris (in L'eclaireur) about comme and he was saying that they had taken a definite design decision to go for a younger market around 2-3 seasons ago (presumably since their 80's customers were just getting that little bit too old) and this expansion into related areas, bigger stores, guerilla concept etc seems to fit with that. Same too with their collaborations, esp Fred Perry one, which gets comme mentioned in all the crap UK fashion mags that would otherwise ignore it (although I for one think that it shouldn't get too democratic - although the proces may take care of that!)

One other thing that the SA told me - although some of you may know this. CDG burn all of their unused stock each season!

 

[nqth]

Originally posted by Johnny@Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:41 am

One other thing that the SA told me - although some of you may know this. CDG burn all of their unused stock each season!

I think I should "faint" by reading that right now.

 

[faust]

Originally posted by Johnny@Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:41 am
This must be the most interesting bit of fashion news I've heard for a long time. Funny that a few of us were mentinoing that the London store was a bit lacking. It sounds amazing. One of the pasters (can't remember who) is right about CDG's change of direction. I was speaking to a SA in Paris (in L'eclaireur) about comme and he was saying that they had taken a definite design decision to go for a younger market around 2-3 seasons ago (presumably since their 80's customers were just getting that little bit too old) and this expansion into related areas, bigger stores, guerilla concept etc seems to fit with that. Same too with their collaborations, esp Fred Perry one, which gets comme mentioned in all the crap UK fashion mags that would otherwise ignore it (although I for one think that it shouldn't get too democratic - although the proces may take care of that!)

One other thing that the SA told me - although some of you may know this. CDG burn all of their unused stock each season!

Don't mean to take this thread into a new direction, but those Perry/CdG shirts look like regular Perry shirts - with a different label. Boring.

 

[softgrey]

Originally posted by nqth+Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:43 am--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nqth @ Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:43 am)</div><div class='quotemain'> <!--QuoteBegin-Johnny@Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:41 am

One other thing that the SA told me - although some of you may know this. CDG burn all of their unused stock each season!

I think I should "faint" by reading that right now. [/b][/quote]
what!!!...

 

[nqth]

Originally posted by Johnny@Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:41 am
It sounds amazing. One of the pasters (can't remember who) is right about CDG's change of direction. I was speaking to a SA in Paris (in L'eclaireur) about comme and he was saying that they had taken a definite design decision to go for a younger market around 2-3 seasons ago (presumably since

Suzy Menkes wrote some time ago that they "come out fighting":-)

In the women lines I think I can't see the move towards younger audiences that obvious. But with Homme Plus, yes. The last few collections (SS03 and 04, as well as FW02 for example - I found the FW03 a bit dissapointing) were more about fun and funky than the experimenting with forms and colors.

I think that the success of Junya men's line gave Comme a stronger will to move toward younger clients. Btw, I wonder when Junya will make his perfumes:-)

 

[faust]

Originally posted by softgrey+Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:53 am--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(softgrey @ Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:53 am)</div><div class='quotemain'>

Originally posted by nqth@Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:43 am
<!--QuoteBegin-Johnny

@Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:41 am

One other thing that the SA told me - although some of you may know this. CDG burn all of their unused stock each season!

I think I should "faint" by reading that right now.

what!!!... [/b][/quote]
not unusual. Hermes does the same thing, to keep the exclusivity.

 

[nqth]

Originally posted by softgrey@Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:53 am

what!!!...

Softgrey, I don't know if this is a regular practice in business (to burn the stock:-) I have read everybody is selling their stocks now as vintage, and those sell quite well.

Anyway, my heart feels so sorry for that (burnt) clothes:-(

 

[softgrey]

Originally posted by faust+Mar 23rd, 2004 - 12:22 pm--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(faust @ Mar 23rd, 2004 - 12:22 pm)</div><div class='quotemain'>

Originally posted by softgrey@Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:53 am

Originally posted by nqth@Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:43 am
<!--QuoteBegin-Johnny

@Mar 23rd, 2004 - 11:41 am

One other thing that the SA told me - although some of you may know this. CDG burn all of their unused stock each season!

I think I should "faint" by reading that right now.

what!!!...

not unusual. Hermes does the same thing, to keep the exclusivity. [/b][/quote]
*HORROR*---claps hands to face-a la 'home alone'

that's truly outrageous...at least donate it to charity...how wasteful...