rei said she is an adult delinquent and i am a child delinquent, so rei & i should be crime partners

After looking through the photos from the Comme des Garcons show that took place today in Paris, I got the same feeling of excitement I have after a scary theme park ride: I don't know what that was but let's go again! Every time I look through the slideshow, I love the collection more and more. Vastly different from last season while still being distinctly Comme des Garcons, it was as if Rei Kawakubo was peeing on the fashion world and marking her territory. Or at least reminding us of what she started -- when did polka dots become Henry Holland's signature and military, Christophe Decarnin's? I think I can even stop complaining about Balmain now because Rei pretty much summed it up in her jackets, which consisted of tons of those tiring "Strong Shoulder" pads sewn together.
Maybe she reads fashion blogs and is telling us to shut up about those annoying blazers. Maybe she despises us. WAIT. no. must.think.happy.thoughts.*TWITCH.*cdg2
Like a million little Balenciaga shoulders pieced together and worn as a top! You know what, I'm going to make that a book. A Million Little Balenciaga Shoulders. And, unlike James Frey, my story will be THE TRUTH. I'll get Nicholas to lend me a few frocks to, um, cut apart. Then I'll sew them back together. Then I'll write a book about how painful it was to physically ruin Balenciaga dresses, and the moral of the story will be, don't ruin Balenciaga dresses. And, AND, I will write it under the name TJ Reloy. I am liking this plan.

Oh right, Comme. Ahem.

Most of the rainbow's colors were well-represented, without being a technicolor cluster of grossfest. Prints, too. Lots of polka dots, the Comme des Garcons specialty, of course...cdg3

Beautiful black pieces, beautiful white pieces...sherbet hair that reminds me of SS '96...cdg1
cdg5

Harnesses to balance out the very exposing, vulnerable nightgown-esque dresses.cdg4
It seems like the majority of labels suffering due to the economy (which is...all of them) have either been little-by-little letting it get the better of their creativity, or are trying to fool us into thinking they're ~totes chill by presenting a collection where the quality lies in the styling, setting, or loudness of the show's music as opposed to the...let's see, what was the point of Fashion Week again? Oh, right, clothes. How unexpected that Comme des Garcons -- usually, a reasonably dark label -- is of the only brands to show a mildly humorous (read: not meaning gimmicky or stupidly ironic) collection this season. Even if this wasn't the collection's intention, the patch work-y tops and off-white, look-like-they-got-pulled-out-from-the-attic dresses* make me want to use the recession as an opportunity to be more creative and not an excuse to resort to the easiest ideas. WHOA, whoa, guys, Comme des Garcons was INSPIRING for the billionth time?! How unexpected! Seriously though, the time has come to deflate the Strong Shoulder. Unless it's made out of leather steel, of course.

*which will look SO RAD with the yohji attic dresses!

45 comments:

Hannah said...

im not too in to the jackets - they are amazing pieces but just look kinda awkward - could be a good thing though i suppose?

totally digging everything else about the collection though - freaking amazing. excellent choice of pictures!

xx

Unknown said...

you're so right about the shoulders!

lucy said...

i love comme des garcons. and i love the collection. especially the shoulders. in yo face balmain. xoxo
p.s. i want sherbet hair!

Stephanie said...

What I love about your blog, Tavi, is that it cracks me up, and though it doesn't look like it at first glance, it does always make sense. In a way. Love it.

isabella said...

oh god, i'm jealous. it all look uh-mazingg

bella
xxx
http://alltheprettyvisitors.blogspot.com/

Soren Lorensen said...

it looks like they drew the clothes and then looked at the drawings through a spyglas with a smashed lense so all the clothes are like fragmented but still essentially one entity...ya know what I mean?

Pearl Westwood said...

The all black pieces do it for me, in a gothic-victorian-geek-princess kind of way. Know what you mean about the 'trademakes' with Comme and the dots, same thing happened with tartan which is so Westwood but now also McQueen.
Pearl

Chloe Tweeny said...

I've never wanted frizzy candyfloss hair this bad in my intire life! and I'm totally with you on the "strong shoulders" thing

Signe said...

Love your blog! Keep it up!

sofiasophie said...

I loooove the belts.....

runwayriot said...

gorgeous :)
tavi please could you visit my blog?

OUTFITPOST said...

wow, you are so right. Rei, one of the few independent heads in the circus, who creates clothes around human-beeings. wearable art, self-consciounsness beauty.

bearcat said...

cdg comes up trumps again. such a great collection!

hannah said...

thats creepy someone has the same name as me..
i wanted to say, the hair?
I just think POODLES.
pink poodles. and also vaguely like the cat and the hat. or whatever it's name is...
that had nothing to do with the clothes, but whatever lol.

lu-tecium said...

Do you know that you're in the French ELLE this week? I hope so. That's how I found your blog! That's not the kind of I use to go, but wow! So cool!

My English is really bad, forgive me!

Well, just keep it up n__n !

Urban Fashionisto said...

wow Comme des garcons's clothing is very interesting and different and I like the sherbet hair. Good Review
JAYYTHEFLIISTAR.BLOGSPOT.COM
JAYYTHEFLIISTAR.BLOGSPOT.COM
JAYYTHEFLIISTAR.BLOGSPOT.COM
JAYYTHEFLIISTAR.BLOGSPOT.COM
JAYYTHEFLIISTAR.BLOGSPOT.COM
JAYYTHEFLIISTAR.BLOGSPOT.COM
JAYYTHEFLIISTAR.BLOGSPOT.COM

Anonymous said...

love the shoes in the last couple of photos.
Tavi you write like a professional!
Love the blag.
As always!
Tomorrow x
www.inthebedroommirror.blogspot.com

Emilie said...

I really liked "black piece" 3/"white piece 1". The use of polkadots was really nice. Finally, the shoes were sick. I realize that technically isn't supposed to be the focus of things but I always notice.


Typically, I am not one to take issue with what other people do. In fact, this is unprecedented, but I found it incredibly irritating. Jay, who commented above me, posting your blog address a thousand times is obnoxious.

Zany Style said...

i love the outfits but my favorite part is the hair!

~tati~

Tavi said...

soren lorenson-that is one of the best and most true descriptions ever. Awesome.

lu-tecium-I had no clue! Thanks for letting me know, I'll look for it...

emilie-The shoes for me weren't their best but if they had been too elaborate it would've thrown off the rest of the collection. Haha I'm with you on the second paragraph..spam is no fun!

Unknown said...

Yes, the whole dark-black leather clad legs-studs + spikes - shoulder pads is a bit done, glad that Comme keeps it original! Love the cotton candy hair!

great post--as always!

Please check out my blog-- I have started a small series of blogger portraits and have just posted my drawing of you. Hope you like it!

www.xAZDdesign.com

FLORENCE. said...

I AM SO FRICKIN SICK OF BALMAIN!
but... so frickin loving comme des garcons, and yohji yamamoto good god that was genius
i honestly hope to god that american apparel do a knock off of the polka dot cycling shorts, because then i can squeeze my hiney into those and wear them with a sheer dress and pretend i am rei kawakubo's envisionment of miss havisham...

Anonymous said...

it's the second time today i've seen the lady bug motif... and if lady bugs are going to be hot this year i say BRING IT!

TonicLime said...

wow you have such an eye for fashion! I'm one of your new super fans! can't wait to read through all of your past post. Keep rock'n.

http://www.brendiva-brendiva.blogspot.com/

... said...

i love it because its like art!
and thats how it should be!






-greatest stylist of our generation: Panos Yiapanis
on
http://siqlogic.blogspot.com/

Isabel said...

I just looked through this collection this morning and was SO THOROUGHLY IMPRESSED. It made me real happy.

Kind of like how your TJ Reloy book would make me happy.

TIRED MARGOT said...

as per usual..
so lovely!






drinkteabecontent.blogspot.com
xoxo

lucky style NYC said...

YOU ARE ALL

UNDER ARREST

FOR BEING

SICK IN DA HEADS

Rosalind said...

I love your wry observations about the shows, it always makes me scrutinise them again!
And I'm looking forward to the insightful venture into the ruining of Balenciaga dresses and why it should never be done.
And talking of Comme Des Garcons, have you come across any of Andrew Logan's jewellery? Because A- I think it's your kind of thing, and B- (I know I havn't got to the Comme bit yet- but I'm taking a bit of a detour!) His museum is only about half an hour away from where I live and I was lucky enough to do a jewellery making workshop led by him yesterday. I only found out afterwards that he was the inspiration for one of Rei Kawakubo's shows. If I'd known this sooner, then I think I would have been bombarding him with questions throughout the day!
Really great post.

http://clothescamerasandcoffee.blogspot.com/

D. Winfield Norman said...

You know whose clothes you should check out if you haven't already?

Barbara i Gongini's, or www.barbaraigongini.dk

She's this spectacular Danish designer and the Rei of the North.

Cheers!

Sheik-Chan said...

TAVI------------
I officially am craving sherbet. No thanks to you. Luckily, I have some in the freezer. XD


I wish you had some sort of messenger, or perhaps you do..you just don't want to be bombarded with fans...which is completely understandable. :>

Thanks for the interesting post. I feel the need to sew now. -goes off to sew-

C A said...

Hi, Rei is someone out of the common, she knows how to do it great! ;)

Maison Chaplin @ Paris Fashion Week - maisonchaplin.blogspot.com

Tavi said...

oh my god LOL so hard @lucky style nyc

DANA BOULOS said...

i lovedd the collection :)

xo
dana

wiseredlips.com

In-tree-gue said...

This collection is so Rei, I love it. You really get that sense of humor that is always present in her collection and you can feel that child like curiosity of exploration that she really excells at, especially when trying a new collection. It also keeps getting better every time I look at it. She realy saved fashion week from extreme boredom

Anonymous said...

You girls should definitely be partners.
Have you seen 'where the wild things are collection' by Opening Ceremony?. You're gonna love it: http://foolfashion.com/2009/10/05/where-the-wild-things-are/

linda said...

pleasing fashion :))

HumanAdult said...

She's throwing shoulders at us! You can almost hear it " You want shoulders? I give you shoulders. Take this, and that and that and this. Kaboom. Karate chop!"

randi bergman said...

"rei kawakubo...i want to be your...frieeeeeend" i know you are totally into rei all the time but this was the first time in a while for me that i was like oh shit..woah! (joey lawrence stylessss)

http://thekatiegirls.blogspot.com/

zoomslow said...

Yes, much of this work is screaming out “creativity” – in much the same way that the fancy little number is now not calling, but screaming out… “Taviiiiiiiii…….” Rei inspires me to make something, anything!

zoomslow said...

P.S Thanks for the "sherbert hair reminding video" - your thoroughness is admirable!

zoomslow said...

thanks for the kawakubo article!! i shall read it with a fashion..i mean passion :-)

zoomslow said...

what a gr8 article! stuff on Rei is so hard 2 come by! the Dejan Sudjic book mentioned is really good though. Tried to buy (as opposed to borrow) a copy a while ago, but of course out of print :-(

Evelyn Rose said...

candy floss hair galore!

Unknown said...

excuse me, this article is so good and useful, thanks for sharing this :)
togel sgp