The Garcons' Club
In her 32 years as the designer for Comme des Garcons, Rei Kawakubo has insinuated art into fashion to create a new way of viewing clothes. Since last February, she has set about upending the way we shop, with the opening in Berlin of the first of many ''guerrilla stores'' (temporary shops started on microbudgets in unlikely neighborhoods). Now, she's setting down retail roots with the Dover Street Market in London (right), to open next month. Her goal? To create an ''ongoing atmosphere of strong and beautiful chaos.'' A six-story town house has been gutted to make room for a mix of retail, event and gallery space. Clothes from all 12 Comme des Garcons lines will take up 40 percent of the retail zone; the rest will include a gallery space for Hedi Slimane's namesake furniture collection; clothing from Alber Elbaz for Lanvin, Raf Simons, Azzedine Alaia, Boudicca and Undercover; and antiques, books and the SHOWstudio of the photographer Nick Knight. Kawakubo has jettisoned architects in favor of theater- and film-set designers, who will work on constantly evolving backdrops. As a result, she is hoping that accidents will happen, creating the ultimate synergy of shopping and ''the coming together of different kindred souls.''
CHRISTINE MUHLKE
