We are beginning to think that Rei Kawakubo may be too much of a literalist for our tastes or at very least a little too ham handed with the metaphors as her Spring 2009 collection entitled A Black Tomorrow had just a little too much "let them eat cake" imagery for us to stomach. Billowing Marie Antoinette hairdos do nothing for us even when the obvious quip about entitlement, excess and fallen empires reaches out to an editor begging us to make a joke. But the tragedy of it all is that tomorrow has come faster than we thought and like the impertinent princess we are ill equipped to cope with its consequences.

Puffy first estate creations (in contrast to her decidedly Tiers Etat H&M disaster) in somber black do not appeal to us and while we appreciate the intense workmanship involved in the collection we can only hang our heads at the ultimate thesis. Perhaps we are reading too much into the in your face message, maybe we should focus instead on the cut outs, the fringes, the capelets, delicious jackets or even the soccer ball tops but with the harsh reality of tomorrow already upon us we are finding it more than difficult.