The first impression one gets from Rei Kawakubo’s summer collection is that it is suited for the Tin Man from Frank L. Baum’s famous book, The Wizard of Oz. This impression is highlighted by eccentric tin hats sitting atop the heads of models with emotionless faces, whose make-up seems like it comes from another dimension, or another planet.

The daring genius of Comme des Garçons’ designer outlines the future for the Spring/Summer 2013 collection. The sculptural metal headdresses set the stage to present he conceptual value of the clothes in which each piece of clothing acts as a means to give form to something else in a veritable fashion meta-language. As simplified and superficial the message of the system may be, the more complex and structured Rei Kawakubo‘s proposals become.

Suits, vests, jackets and skirts made up of scraps and the leftover materials of other clothing, are sewn, layered and reassembled into contours that take shape with the extraordinary freedom of expression and incomparable skill of the clothier. Expertly crafted spiral lines, chaotic and yet balanced between solids and voids yield the profiles of T-shirts, jacket sleeves or surplus fabric that is then folded and crumpled to provide crafted, poetic origami effects.

Rei Kawakubo‘s exuberant creativity tailors pieces to be worn and interpreted according to personal preferences and feelings, making use of an aesthetic model of the most advanced contemporary artistic expressions, whose shape and structural uncertainty leave her work continuously open to  imagination!

and Sari, the photographer…