Understanding Kawakubo Mania @ Harajuku's H&M

H&M's last guest designer release (for Roberto Cavalli) incited near riots worldwide. Although I escaped their OC store with a pair of tights and a nasty bruise, there could be real riots when H&M launches Commes des Garcons founder Rei Kawakubo's guest collection.  The big even is scheduled for Saturday, November 8 (Friday, US time) at the opening of their Harajuku store...their second in Tokyo after opening the Ginza store last month. 

Last time, Cavalli pieces sold out in 30 minutes; Kawakubo's will most likely do the same, unless H&M carefully manages the situation. But don't hold your breath -- they seem to like chaos-generated publicity. In the U.S. and Europe, the Kawakubo collection is scheduled for release in specific stores November 13...I'll post the list as soon as I can confirm.

Among designers, Rei Kawakubo is arguably more influential than Cavalli, but less well-known to the greater public, due in part to her famous reclusiveness. Her pieces aren't widely available in the US and she doesn't have the consumer reach that Cavalli does with his diffusion line 'Just Cavalli' or extensive partnerships with other brands (save the recent LVMH one). 

So, why all the fuss? Why are some fans planning to camp outside H&M across the world on November 12?  To help you answer this question, here's a reprisal of a piece I did last year when the excellent Stylized Sculpture exhibit was at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum. This exhibit, using pieces from the Kyoto Costume Museum, helped me to understand why her work was considered so shocking and avant garde. It also detailed the strong tradition of design apprenticeships in Japan and how this still influences contemporary Japanese design. By placing pieces from Kawakubo and her apprentices side by side, I was able to understand the context of her original vision and how students such as Junya Watanabe and Tao Kurihara have incorporated them into their own unique styles. To read the complete piece (along with images and background on Issey Miyaki and Yohji Yamamato) click here.  For the shortened version, read on...

Rei Kawakubo is the founder of Commes des Garcons and for me at least, the most mysterious of the contemporary Japanese designers. She was considered radical in the early 80s when she began using black extensively for day wear, and certainly paved the way for designers such as Donna Karan to do the same. The dress at left is from the Fall/Winter '86 collection and is often referred to as the 'ammonite dress' for its resemblance to the spiraling shell of the fossil.

To me, Kawakubo's early pieces often seemed influenced by Vivienne Westwood in their bumps, lumps and bustles. After seeing this exhibit, though, I understand that while both designers were intrigued (for a time anyway) with seemingly odd embellishments and using single pieces of fabric and tubes (a la Issey Miyake), the two have completely different reasons for doing so. While Westwood focused on rebelling against traditional tailoring (among other things) Kawakubo was more concerned with furthering the Japanese aesthetic principles of wabi and sabi.  Author Richard R. Powell  best summarizes wabi-sabi: "It nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect."  These concepts are essential to understanding many aspects of contemporary Japanese culture, ranging from the the obsession with cherry blossoms in the spring to the ever-changing street fashions of Tokyo (dress above left from the Fall/Winter '05 collection). Both designers, however, have continued to question the standard ideals of beauty in their respective cultures and in the world of fashion as a whole. 

Kawakubo is also one of the first ‘green’ designers in that she abhors wasting fabric, preferring instead to find creative ways, such as twisting and wrapping, to make it decorative.  The exhibit piece from the Fall/Winter ‘94 collection demonstrates this perfectly -- the dress is created from a single, tube-shaped piece of wool-nylon that has been twisted from the bottom up to form a more fitted look and an insouciant scarf-like embellishment. This particular piece also includes other signature design elements such as distressed fabric and cutting as customization. While a radical concept when she pioneered the technique, it was quickly and widely copied (remember the ripped jeans phenomenon?) and still used extensively by designers such as LA's Libertine.

Junya Watanabe apprenticed under Kawakubo for 10 years before being offered his own Comme des Garcons line. He pushed the use of technology even further than his predecessors, initially working with delicate organdy. One of his exhibit dresses (not pictured here because my camera ran out of batteries…aagh!!) uses a translucent, wildflower printed organdy, spellbindingly engineered so that the folds and pleats look ruffled when viewed from one side and honeycombed when viewed from the other. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Junya also has a strong interest in using industrial materials as part of a garment’s design as well as its accessories. His exhibit dress (from the Spring/Summer 1999) collection uses tiny aluminum rods to create a fan shape in front as well as to form the straps. This piece has been used extensively for exhibit publicity and is on posters throughout the city -- my part-time Caveman husband called this the ‘teapot’ dress until he saw it in person and pronounced, "wow, aluminum rods, cool" then lapsed back into his old self by wondering if it could be employed for fishing.

Tao Kurihara, now lead designer for CDG’s Tricot line, apprenticed under Watanabe for 8 years before being allowed to design her own line, known simply as Tao. (Wouldn’t that have made a great reality show??) One of the dresses on display from her Tao Spring/Summer ‘07 is constructed entirely of paper, down to the tiny ruffles and trims.  Exquisite and just another reason to strap on your stilettos and run to see this show in person!! (dress pictured here is from the same season and very similar to the one in the exhibit)

Why does any of this matter? As Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) haughtily explained to Andy (Anne Hathaway) in the Devil Wears Prada, "the shade of purple on runways four years ago eventually trickled down to the hideous bargain basement sweater you’re wearing today." It’s clear after viewing Stylized Sculpture that these designers have influenced not only what we wear, but why we wear it. Despite the Western focus on using garments to add desired features (remember shoulder pads?)  and the American obsession with masking imperfections (What Not To Wear, Tim Gunn’s Guide To Style, etc.), this cadre of designers has infused a much-needed dose of purposeful imperfection as an expression of inner beauty. I’m think I’m turning Japanese! (Or maybe I was and didn't know it.)

(These lovely black & white photographs were taken by Hiroshi Sugimoto and used with the generous permission of the Asian Art Museum.