Ms Kawakubo, 66, is one of the great fashion forces from the last decades of the 20th century to now. Integral to her success is that she is too original to be pigeonholed — although others may see her as a symbol of feminism, judging her by the chic severity of an unvarnished face under a straight fringe, complex but plain clothes and flat shoes.
”"Positive Energy: Comme at 40", The International Herald TribuneIn fact, Kawakubo doesn't do must-haves--nor does she do cocktail parties, nor product launches with champagne, nor shows jostling with celebrity, nor any of the other flirtations with which commercially successful designers are wont to charm their press and public.
”Profile of Rei Kawakubo by Avril Mair. Wallpaper Oct 08.Paris Fashion Week Comme des Garçons Spring 2009 Photos by Chris Moore
A record number of shoppers will do their holiday shopping online, causes range from the inanity of black Friday, to gas prices, to an overall growing confidence in e-commerce methods. The numbers, as reported by consultancy Deloitte, should be up to 71 percent with apparel reaching the second most popular gift giving category.
Speaking of Black Friday, H&M's New York and San Francisco flagships will be open 24 hours on the biggest shopping day of the year. H&M attributes their decision to the success of last year, when the New York store held around the clock hours.
(Speaking of the success of H&M, Rei Kawakubo drew a three-day wait this week when her collection for the mass retailer opened in the Harajuku district of Japan)
In other news...Michael Kors took his contemporary shoe business in house, Harold's (not Harrods), the high-end Dallas based retailer, filed Chapter 11 and a 24 hour Paper pop-up (say that three times as fast) in Los Angeles hosted in-demand vendors such as Rodarte and Jeremy Scott--no news on whether they sold everything but they did have a 1400 dollar sale at 4am during the event.
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.
In April we mentioned we were unsure just how Rei Kawakubo's highly conceptual work would translate into clothing for the hoi polloi with her much anticipated collaboration with H&M and now thanks to the power and speed of the blogosphere the full collection is making the rounds faster than a bad cold. And just as we predicted, despite many a young hipster craving a Comme des Garçons look, Kawakubo's designs in cheap polyester are a giant joke on the third estate. Deconstructed clothing that is going to deconstruct even faster thanks to cheap materials is no one's idea of fashion. Just wait to get your hand's on the Comme de Garcon's Spring 2009 collection that showed today OK?
Its going to be a fall full of Rei Kawakubo thanks to her high profile collaborations. While the Third Estate has to wait till November for her collection with H&M. But her work with Louis Vuitton is making its debut next Wednesday in a temporary concept store in Tokyo designed by Rei herself. Because its not a money making venture for Vuitton supposedly (har har, though it does "quietly mark its 30th anniversary in Japan) you can only place your orders at this pop up but you will not be back to get your bags till 2009. If we were planning a trip to Tokyo anytime in the near future we might actually consider buying this "noodle" handle bag.
Vogue and and the New York Times remember modeling maverick Jerry Ford.
Form versus function frustrates athletes. The sister debate, modesty, is also gaining some traction.
Reports are coming out of WWD Magic that buyers are sticking to comparatively cheaper American made lines.
Charles Nolan is doing his part to keep his partner Andrew Tobias, The treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, hip despite the best efforts of handlers.
J. Brand Jeans and Topshop are working together for a lower priced denim collaboration coming out November 30th. The jeans are to be named after New York neighborhoods. The skinny jean, one of J Brand's classics, is to be named the Brooklyn. We would have gone with the Williamsburg.
Just when you think all possible interesting designer collaborations have been exhausted something new pops up. The frenzy for coolest possible fast fashion line has been won by Swedish retail giant H&M. For its next designer collaboration, H&M is bringing the Japanese avant-garde to the masses with a line by Rei Kawakubo.
A one-time Comme des Garçons for H&M collection is slated to launch in early November as the Swedish fast-fashion giant opens its first stores in Japan: a 10,000-square-foot unit in Tokyo’s Ginza district and a 16,000-square-foot location in hyper-trendy Harajuku. An international rollout will follow.
Diego Dolcini
Ultimo
Kookai
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