WWD – 30 septembre 2018<\/p>\n
In an emotional collection, Rei Kawakubo looked inward and found herself \u00ab\u00a0fumbling around in the dark.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a place for her. But where?<\/p>\n
Rei Kawakubo is at a creative crossroads. The designer told us so herself in a statement, a manifesto of sorts, e-mailed before her show on Saturday. It was a remarkable correspondence from a woman who typically lets her runways do the talking, and whom most of us view as unwavering in her confidence, her work, her art.<\/p>\n
Kawakubo wrote that 10 seasons ago, she changed the direction of her Comme des Gar\u00e7ons show to see how far she could \u201ctake making powerful clothes, even to the point where the clothes become abstract.\u201d She has decided that that approach is no longer new: \u201cI looked for what is next, what is next, but I couldn\u2019t find it.\u201d<\/p>\n
This show was about Kawakubo\u2019s search, both as a creative and as a woman. As such, it felt deeply personal. With \u201cSomewhere\u201d from \u201cWest Side Story\u201d on the soundtrack, the first model appeared, her abdomen padded to look pregnant, her black tinsel jumpsuit slashed with a horizontal zigzag to show her belly. She and all the models had white hair worn in messy, workaday ponytails, signaling that the burdens of being a woman and a creator are lifelong and grueling. You must create constantly, and find your place, somewhere.<\/p>\n
The pregnancy theme continued until the baby bump morphed into bulbous protrusions at the hips and backside, in clear reference to Kawakubo\u2019s seminal lumpy-bumpy collection of spring 1997, only now, the padding broke through the clothes exposing the \u201cskin\u201d underneath \u2014 bodysuits featuring logos, floral \u201ctattoos\u201d and newsprint. In context, the logos, also on Kawakubo\u2019s spiffy Nike sneakers, registered not as merch-mongering but as statement of self, Kawakubo asserting, \u201cmy creations are who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was all jarringly emotional, with some particular points of impact. Midway through, two models came out in chains \u2014 the shackles of womanhood? Of creative expression? Of expectations? Imposed by the self or externally? And near the end, when, on the soundtrack, Tom Waits\u2019 \u201cTom Traubert\u2019s Blues (Waltzing Matilda),\u201d stopped abruptly on, \u201cI begged you to stab me\u2026You buried the dagger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lighthearted it wasn\u2019t. \u201cAdvancing ahead while fumbling around in the dark\u201d is a risk, Kawakubo wrote in her e-mail. And yet she chose to show at the \u00c9cole des Beaux-Arts\u2019 Palais des \u00c9tudes, on a bright white runway installed under the expansive skylight. It happened to be a beautiful, blue-sky day. There is hope.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WWD – 30 septembre 2018 Comme…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-445335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fs-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredericsanchez.com\/fredericsanchez\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredericsanchez.com\/fredericsanchez\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredericsanchez.com\/fredericsanchez\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredericsanchez.com\/fredericsanchez\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredericsanchez.com\/fredericsanchez\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fredericsanchez.com\/fredericsanchez\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredericsanchez.com\/fredericsanchez\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredericsanchez.com\/fredericsanchez\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredericsanchez.com\/fredericsanchez\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}