Comme des Garcons
They are about to launch a collaboration with high street giant H&M and have a dual Tokyo store with French powerhouse Louis Vuitton, the ever defiant Comme des Garçons look set for global domination.
Created by Rei Kawakubo in 1969, Japanese label Comme des Garçons (‘Like Boys’ en Français) went from strength to strength throughout the seventies, adding a menswear line in 1978. Comme des Garçons attacked the established notions of the time - that fashion had to be sexy, colourful and beautiful – and at their debut show at Paris Fashion Week in 1981, caused a storm with their collection that used lots of black and distressed fabrics and was labeled by some at the time as “Hiroshima Chic”. Throughout the eighties, their designs were always conceptual, often monochromatic, asymmetrical and draped over the body, featuring tears, rips and unraveled edges. This unique style won them the respect of the fashion industry and made them a go-to brand for the thinking fashionista.
Now with a dozen boutiques and approximately 200 stockists worldwide, the company rakes in around 150 million dollars a year. Along with the Comme des Garçons flagship stores in Tokyo and Paris, designer Rei Kawakubo also has London’s super-hip Dover Street Market at her disposal. The market opened in 2005 and has become something of a hotspot for fashion lovers as it stocks those achingly cool and hard to find labels (such as Marios Schwab, Lutz & Patmos and Sarah Lanzi) as well as the best bits from big names such as Lanvin and John Galliano. Industry insiders flock to this fashion mecca to enjoy the innovative in-store atmosphere and snap up the latest from Comme des Garçons of course.
Kawakubo loves to command the fashion pack’s attention and this season’s autumn/winter collection was no exception. In February 2008 her fashion week audience was wowed once again by inflated coats, towering tulles gathered into ballooning sleeves and gorgeous puff-ball dresses. It was a love affair with romanticism, incorporating lace and ribbons in sugary pinks and gothic black ruffles. It was then that they also announced their plans to join forces with French super-brand Louis Vuitton to open a joint store in their native city Tokyo. The store opens this month for a limited time and the must-have buy will doubtless be one of the six exclusive bags that Kawakubo has designed using the popular Louis Vuitton logo.
If you can’t quite make it to Tokyo, Comme des Garcons latest announcement - that they will be this autumn’s designer collaborator with high street giant H&M - should come as fantastic news. Following in the footsteps of fellow designers Roberto Cavalli and Stella McCartney, Rei Kawakubo and her team will design a range that will include womenswear, menswear, accessories and fragrance – and will launch first in Tokyo’s H&M store, before rolling out worldwide a few days later. Whether these commercial deals will tarnish this avant garde and unique brand is up for debate, but we think bringing such an innovative name to the masses can only be a good thing - for us and for the house itself.
By Richard Pickard
