IVO MILAN – Radical Fashion Blog

The Infinity of Tailoring

“The infinity of tailoring” are the laconic words Rei Kawakubo used to close the Comme des Garçons Autumn/Winter 2013-2014 fashion show. The expression is well suited to being used as a pithy title for a collection characterized by a generous abundance of shapes, fabrics and also colours.

Following the thread that starts with menswear in its canonical variations of jackets, suits, trousers, Rei Kawakubo develops a creative plan whose results consistently tend to destabilize what we would expect to see. The choice of fabric and colours, and their extremely traditional usage, from pinstriped grey to dark flannel and Glen plaid, combine not only to intensify the abandonment of traditional industry dictates, but especially to become ductile tools that demonstrate how inventiveness has no limits, even in the changing room.

Thus a commonplace men’s jacket takes the form of three-dimensional poetry through a process of cutting and stitching that, through some incomprehensible tailoring skills, transform the model and enrich it with roses, ribbons or sculptural bows.

The original same-old model of pants seems to expand, as if the fabric scraps from the packaging have been put back together in new forms that rebel against their boring pre-ordained shape.

The Japanese designer’s libertarian provocations finally come to a climax with the prints traced from drawings by Dan Michiels, the psychedelic Hollywood artist.

This open collaboration demonstrates how fashion meets the art world, and is likely an invitation to pursue the follies of their own imagination and to bring them into reality.