Michèle Lamy, A$AP Nast and Extra on Why They Love Sporting Comme des Garçons

Over the weekend, Rei Kawakubo introduced her Autumn/Winter 2023 womenswear assortment for Comme des Garçons, Return to the Supply, on the American Cathedral in Paris. Following the present, the designer defined of the gathering’s Zen koan-like title that she “needed to make use of materials that existed with out interested by making correct patterns, simply fundamental patterns, free.” Kawakubo, who based Comme in 1969 in Tokyo, exploded the sartorial canon by putting off symmetrical cuts that historically balanced tailoring in lieu of off-kilter, summary types difficult the connection of garment and physique. Was this the supply she was returning to?

The gathering was introduced in 11 chapters: troupes of twos, of threes, and of fours entered a lamplit podium in clothes which some have interpreted as a crash evaluate of Kawakubo’s oeuvre. There have been hints of her roses, flouncing furbelows, and boxed elemental tailoring that known as to thoughts her notorious 2D silhouettes, amongst different references. The snippets of music accompanying every chapter, which ranged from classical to pop, bolstered for some this concept of gleaning the previous as the gathering’s inspiration. However in her typical means, Kawakubo was fast to refute any narrative appended to her assortment: her supply was “the Large Bang.” The start of the world – not of her, not of Comme des Garçons, not of any literal understandability.

Kawakubo has all the time stubbornly affirmed that her clothes are the medium of that means; her exhibits focus persistently on a spectacle of fabric and of lower, devoid of the superfluous fanfare that accompanies a lot of at this time’s trend exhibits. To put on her garments is to interpret, to improvise, to step into the thoughts of one of the good designers of our time. 

To have a good time the newest assortment, we spoke to 5 Comme devotees – Michelle Elie, A$AP Nast, Duy Pham, Michèle Lamy and Miki Omori – on why they love sporting her creations.

Michelle Elie, Editor and Comme des Garçons Collector

“It was the 90s and I used to be residing in New York Metropolis – I‘m born in Haiti however grew up in New York. I used to go downtown, this was my territory, I didn’t wish to go previous 14th Road. You had all of the galleries downtown and beside them the designers, like Comme des Garçons and Paul Smith. I noticed somebody at a gap sporting a wonderful jacket with no brand. I requested them the place it was from, and so they replied ‘Yohji’. So, I had a curiosity for one thing completely different, and that led me by the doorways of the Comme store. For those who determined to put on Yohji and Comme, then you definately belonged to a sure unstated cult.

“The Blue Witches [Spring/Summer 2016] assortment is one in every of my favourites. It’s vital as a result of girls like us, or her, we’re simply misunderstood. Even when a girl is highly effective in her stance, her work, her world, she will be able to simply be disregarded, and I believe this assortment appears at so many variations of what it means to be misunderstood. I really feel very robust after I put on this assortment – I just like the power of these two phrases collectively, I like what it represents. However I believe I can solely actually select my favorite when she’s stopped. As a result of it takes time to find her work. I’d want ten years to find a chunk I didn’t see correctly at first.

“I simply wish to be catching desires. And for me, with Comme, I’m simply capturing all these desires that Rei is placing out. I simply hope that I can seize them as quick as I can. I don’t understand how Rei nonetheless has so many surprises up her sleeves in spite of everything these years. She’s giving her total life creating these items. The older I’m going to get, the extra summary I wish to turn into. As a result of I believe I’m only one individual, however I don’t wish to dwell my life in simply that one look. And that’s what Rei can provide me.”

A$AP Nast, Musician 

“I first got here throughout Comme as I discovered a pair of Junya [Watanabe] fight boots in a classic retailer in New York … I beloved these boots! So, I appeared into the model and found Six journal and began to gather them. From there, I researched into Rei Kawakubo and the entire historical past of Comme.

“My favorite piece in my Comme assortment is … all of them! One of many fundamental issues that attracts me in is the group and the final aesthetic. After I put on Comme, I really feel like I’m sporting artwork.”

“For those who determined to put on Yohji and Comme, then you definately belonged to a sure unstated cult” – Michelle Elie

Duy Pham, Graphic Designer and Artwork Director 

“I first got here throughout Comme by the e-book Rei Kawakubo and Comme des Garçons by British author Deyan Sudjic, and from trying on the promoting on the again covers of the outdated problems with Nest journal, which I additionally discovered by likelihood. I simply thought they had been so good, unusual, provocative, and even poetic. I received actually obsessive about accumulating Comme, particularly the printed matter, I believe, due to these first impressions.

“I’ve a number of favourites: the necklace with reasonable plastic animal mouths from the Homme Plus Spring/Summer time 2019 assortment. The white vinyl vest printed with {a photograph} by photographer Roger Ballen known as ‘5 Fingers’ from the Autumn/Winter 2015 assortment. All my on a regular basis pants that are from the Homme Plus and Homme Deux collections, are tremendous snug and classy on the similar time, and so they work effectively for the New York way of life. And, after all, all of the books, magazines, posters, and catalogues I’ve been accumulating over time, together with the well-known Satin bowerbird (that collects solely blue objects to make the nest) posters from the 1989 marketing campaign.

“I’m drawn to the sudden particulars and the shocking building strategies. The clashing mixture of various patterns, textures, and imagery. The celebration of issues damaged, misshapen and ineffective. The sense of humour and spirituality being equally current. I really feel comfortable and assured after I put on Comme, but in addition a bit powerful, mysterious, and humorous on the similar time.”

Michèle Lamy

“I first stumbled upon Rei’s designs at what I believe was one in every of her first pop-ups, proper across the time she formally based Comme des Garçons after utilizing the label unofficially for a number of years. It was the start of a love story.

“I’ve a number of [favourite pieces from my collection]! The 2 that come to thoughts are an unimaginable piece from Spring/Summer time 2014 piece that I’m sporting in a {photograph} taken by Wolfgang Tillmans (featured in Purple’s twenty fifth anniversary situation). And the second is from Spring/Summer time 2016 – I used to be in New York as soon as on my solution to Dover Road Market with Giovanni Bassan and he needed to push me into the automotive as a result of I couldn’t match by the door! You may see it on this black-and-white photograph taken by Pierre Debusschere.

“I simply get excited [when I wear Comme]! A visible illustration of how I really feel when sporting Comme is that this image by Pierre Debusschere. In it, I’m sporting a Comme des Garçon robe from the Spring/Summer time 2017 assortment and Rick Owens footwear.”

Miki Omori, Trend Designer and Educator 

“My first introduction to Comme des Garçons was by a Japanese journal named An An within the early Nineteen Eighties. As I used to be born in Japan, I vaguely keep in mind that I discovered Comme de Garçons very early on as an adolescent. I recall interviews with Ms Kawakubo’s photograph in lots of magazines on the time. These days, it’s uncommon for her to look in an interview article with photographs of herself.

“My first piece from Comme is a purple polyester chiffon gown from Tricot Comme des Garçons c.1995. The gown is made with just one sample – I assumed it was a really fascinating form. I nonetheless have the gown in my closet. My favorite piece from my wardrobe is the 2D structured kimono coat – in a surprising pink flower print on black base nylon Oxford cloth – from the Spring/Summer time 2022 My Current State of Thoughts Fairly Than a Theme assortment. After I tried the piece within the Comme Paris Retailer on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, I felt like this piece was made particularly for me! I like its pink color and the form which is sort of a cut-out paper doll gown, identical to those that I used to be obsessive about as a little bit woman. It jogs my memory of how a lot I’ve beloved garments ever since my childhood.

“If I might add to my wardrobe, I’d love items from the Spring/Summer time 1997 Physique Meets Costume, Costume Meets Physique assortment. It’s the most avant-garde and modern assortment in trend historical past. To see these clothes dancing – I went to see the ballet Scénario choreographed by Merce Cunningham twice in November 2019 on the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris – it was superb!

“I love Rei Kawakubo and her philosophy. I imagine trend is among the methods to specific one’s character, personal life, and oneself. I respect Ms Kawakubo’s sensibility and willpower as a designer as a result of she by no means stops artistic exploration. Her inventive garments will not be solely artwork objects but in addition wearable. She is my idol and the function mannequin of my life. I really feel assured and comfortable sporting Comme. The garments match naturally into my life – I put on them daily. I like the sensation of sporting Comme des Garçons as a result of they’re items of Rei Kawakubo’s ingenuity, conviction, and intelligence.”