In Paris, there is a “trending” prêt-à-porter concept amongst the many shows till now. And Comme des Garçons is one of the many contributors to the “trend”. Rei Kawakubo released a vivid collection of pure Roses and blood, fully representing the power of love and romance for Comme des Garçons. Pieces after pieces, models after models: red. And it was a tone of passionate and amorous red, as if Kawakubo was unable to hold back, hence injecting a form of aggressiveness and force. The collection had a rough reflection of a 20th-century avant-garde art movement that seemed more likely to have transported from the 1900’s.
It was important for Kawakubo to enhance the trivial significance of the roses he so greatly played with, as they were the key mode of expression. Her familiar motif of roses and rosettes were there from the start, down long flowing red ribbons fabrics. There was too a sweet desire on oversized coats built from layers of ruffled textiles as to create voluminous outrage, and coats constructed by bands of fabrics in such a Venetian sartorial style. Red was ceaseless seen through dresses paired with oversized black hoods, slightly resembling nothing but a modern take on Red Riding Hood. But roses and red were not the only design accessories Kawakubo implemented; the presence of spliced heart shapes on helmets and skirts, appearing fragmented seemed to depict a universal depiction of romance in all its hallmark glory. The frivolity and excess of Kawakubo’s elements created a simplified disaster that is trendy, amplifying a universally amicable emotion. And the well-constructed design would not have exerted such intense emotional reaction without the porcelain models with ruby red lips and piercing red boots.
Such a journey of pure sensation – and definitely one that every single person could relate with. No one knows what Kawakubo experienced to create such a bloody and aggressive collection, yet with a romantic take on it, it is a collection that many would be able to empathize with as well as love. Transparently a show that kept the heart racing and the blood pumping. (Text Nadilla Sari Ratman)