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Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn

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  • laika
    moderator
    • Sep 2006
    • 3787

    Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn



    From NY Times T style magazine, Spring 2008



    Gang of Four

    COMME DES GARÇONS IS AN EXTENSION OF REI KAWAKUBO'S
    BRAIN. A KIND OF ZEN MASTER, SHE ALLOWS HER PROTÉGÉS TOTAL FREEDOM. AND
    THAT'S TOUGH.




    Peoples? eyes constantly deceive them, and that was certainly true
    in Paris in the fall of 1996, when Rei Kawakubo, the designer behind
    Comme des Garçons, presented a collection of dresses swollen with huge
    lumps. In profile, the models looked like hunchbacks or camels tipped
    onto their sides.

    There were smaller, kidney-shaped masses on shoulders and arms, most
    covered in cheerful gingham. The clothes confounded critics, even those
    used to Kawakubo?s abstract methods. Amy Spindler wrote in The New York
    Times that Kawakubo had "invented whole new deformities for women.?

    During the show, which was conducted in silence, one photographer muttered, "Quasimodo.?

    "Lumps and Bumps,? as the collection came to be called, illustrates the
    difficulties for a designer of being not merely original but also a
    modernist. Kawakubo said she was interested in exploring "volume and
    space.? If you begin with the outline made by her shapes (the classic
    "silhouette?) and then pull back ? moving away, as it were, from the
    confinements of fashion ? you realize that Kawakubo has in fact
    recreated a reality of the late 20th century: the individual seemingly
    joined to her backpack and her burdens; even the act of talking on a
    cellphone assumes a spatial connection, producing what appears in the
    abstract to be a growth. Kawakubo?s objective was not to distort the
    female body but rather to express a thought that probably, for her,
    began with a gesture or a glimpse. Some designers, like Alber Elbaz of
    Lanvin and Azzedine Alaïa, solve problems of dressmaking ? putting
    darts in a skirt to give it softer volume. Kawakubo, working more in
    the spirit of an artist than any designer today, attacks the problems
    of consciousness.

    Kawakubo has been making clothes for nearly 40 years, always under the
    label Comme des Garçons, which means "like some boys? and in a way
    suggests a gang. In the ?80s, this could be seen in the hordes of
    black-clad women, many of whom considered themselves feminists and were
    eager, like the architect Kazuyo Sejima, whose firm recently completed
    the New Museum in Lower Manhattan, to express themselves radically. In
    1992, Kawakubo decided to branch out and gave a young patternmaker,
    Junya Watanabe, his own label, a move that revealed her to be an
    innovative businesswoman as well. By the end of the ?90s, "multibrands?
    had taken over the industry. Since then, she has added Tao by Tao
    Kurihara and, more recently, a youth-oriented label called Ganryu, by
    the baby-faced Fumito Ganryu, 31, who has been with the company for
    four years. Kawakubo and her husband, Adrian Joffe, also operate the
    eclectic Dover Street Market in London, giving the Comme des Garçons
    company another way to burnish its avant-garde image while continuing
    to grow. These new ventures now account for 22 percent of the company?s
    annual sales, which in 2007 were $180 million, said Joffe.

    Editors still follow Kawakubo?s shows with rapt interest. But more and
    more you wonder why they go. What do they expect to learn from this
    small, dour woman whose gnomic pronouncements ("Red is the new black?)
    would surely qualify as Gumpisms if they hadn?t been issued before we
    found such things funny? As it is, hardly any of the editors wear her
    clothes nowadays ? and that?s also true in Tokyo, said Kazuhiro Saito,
    the editor in chief of Japanese Vogue. "Even five years ago, Comme des
    Garçons was kind of part of the national wardrobe,? said Tiffany Godoy,
    a writer who has followed Tokyo fashion for a decade and who has
    recently published a book on Harajuku street style. "But that?s not the
    case anymore.? And while Kawakubo offers women the possibility to own a
    runway garment for $1,000 ? largely because she doesn?t spend a lot of
    money on marketing and because she uses the same mills and factories
    she has always used ? young Japanese women prefer European brands at
    more than twice the price. "They want to look like celebrities,? Godoy
    pointed out.

    Kawakubo?s influence, then, on the self-perceptions of women, on beauty
    and, above all, on tailoring, is not what it once was. Or, let?s say
    her methods of working ? independently, mostly in solitude and with
    absolute control over every facet of her business ? are so at variance
    with the rest of the industry that it?s harder for a contemporary
    audience to appreciate her sensibility. Much of fashion today is
    accessible to people because of information technology. But it is also
    accessible because the most desirable brands are designed by groups of
    people ? teams for bags and shoes, others for clothes. There is nothing
    wrong with this approach ? many artists work in collaboration, after
    all ? but it scarcely produces the same quality of insight, makes the
    same impertinent claims on our feelings, as the individual working only
    for the satisfaction of her own ideas. As Sonya Park, a stylist in
    Tokyo who knows Kawakubo well, said recently, "She makes her profit so
    that she can do something new the next season. It?s always about the
    next project. That?s why I see her as someone who wants to express the
    world through fashion. She just wants to keep on doing it.? This is an
    artistic choice, and a sane one, a combination that doesn?t really work
    in the dress business. The fact that Kawakubo made it work is
    remarkable, and it?s why more than ever she deserves our attention.

    In December I went to see her in Tokyo. I was hoping to write about how
    she had created a multibrand company that completely anticipated the
    luxury groups in Europe and at the same time was different from them.
    Unlike other designers of her generation, Kawakubo didn?t just produce
    cheaper spinoff lines; she created separate and distinct brands. Her
    approach was a lot like Toyota and Lexus, or Estée Lauder and Clinique.
    Though each brand was separate, they existed under one umbrella. Yet
    once I started talking with Watanabe and Kurihara, as well as people in
    Kawakubo?s outer circle, it was clear the structure idea was just
    something to hang my hat on. The place is actually an extension of
    Kawakubo?s brain.

    The first thing you should know about the Comme des Garçons
    headquarters is that it occupies five floors of an ordinary office
    building on a busy road, each floor as drably functional as the next.
    Nothing to reveal here except its nothingness. There is no receptionist
    to greet you or to direct you to the appropriate floor. This would only
    be a problem if you were actually expected at Comme des Garçons, but
    very few people are welcomed there, and that also applies to family
    members. "No husbands, boyfriends, wives, daughters ? never,? said
    Joffe. Which brings us to the second thing you should know about Comme
    des Garçons: it?s a very secretive place.

    Kawakubo, who is 65, said that when she first raised the idea with
    Watanabe about having his own label, she wasn?t thinking of a business
    strategy. She just thought Watanabe, who had joined the company
    straight from design school, was talented. One day she said to him in
    her half-chiding way, "Isn?t it about time you started your own label??
    Design assistants at Comme des Garçons are patterners, and as
    patterners they must develop a feel not only for shape and texture but
    also, more tryingly, for what Kawakubo is feeling at the start of a
    collection, whether she is "happy? or "angry,? sentiments she rarely
    communicates in any detail. As she once explained, "At the start, I am
    not exactly certain what I am thinking myself. It is guesswork with
    us.? What Kawakubo hopes to achieve from this open process is that the
    patterners will think more intuitively and come up with things that
    will surprise her.

    ...I mean the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art whose other half is the eternal and the immutable.
  • laika
    moderator
    • Sep 2006
    • 3787

    #2
    Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn



    (continued)



    Some 300 people apply for jobs each year at the company, with about 10
    making it to the final stage, where they are tested on pattern-cutting
    skills. Kurihara was hired in 1998, after graduating from Central Saint
    Martins in London. She said she didn?t consider staying in Europe and
    working for a fashion house there. "My passion was for Comme des
    Garçons,? said Kurihara, who is a girlish 34, with a short crop of
    bangs and a taste for lacy blouses. Initially she was placed on
    Watanabe?s staff, and then put in charge of knitwear design. She said
    she had little contact with Kawakubo. "I was a member of Junya?s team,
    so I had no connection with her,? she said. "It was completely
    different work.?

    In 2005, Kawakubo offered Kurihara her own label. Drawing ingeniously
    on craft and feminine ornament ? one collection featured paper garments
    that evoked the perishable nature of a wedding ceremony ? Tao has found
    a niche with editors and buyers. Kawakubo said, "I saw similarities in
    Tao?s taste for a while. In her style, she had a young girl?s way of
    dressing. I always thought there were possibilities.?

    But while Kawakubo admits that creating new brands has been good for
    the company ? giving it a future that presumably will reach beyond her
    lifetime ? she resists the idea that altruism is involved. In the
    course of discussing why other fashion houses don?t seem to recognize
    the benefits of bringing along young talent ? particularly aging
    European houses without a successor in place ? Kawakubo suddenly
    interjected, "I don?t want to be seen as the big benefactor of
    fashion!? She laughed for a moment. "It?s not that great.? Kawakubo,
    suffering from a cold, was wearing a soft pair of black jodhpurs and a
    royal blue cardigan buttoned over a white T-shirt. Her face resumed its
    frown as Joffe translated. "We all benefit each other,? she said of the
    group, "and it?s all for the benefit of Comme des Garçons.?

    Anyone who spends time in the company, with Kurihara or with Watanabe,
    whose bearing and dry disposition makes you think of a sumo wrestler,
    feels the existence of boundaries, both physical and psychological. To
    an extent, these boundaries involve Japanese business customs, like
    excessive courtesy, but for the most part they are set up by Kawakubo.
    For her, separateness and neutrality are indispensable to the creative
    process. At the same time, she exerts enormous influence over the
    company, largely through her values. She avoids expressing critical
    opinions, though a dislike is often registered with a "mmm.? And she
    doesn?t comment on Kurihara?s and Watanabe?s designs, which they seem
    to accept. As Ronnie Cooke Newhouse, a creative director whose London
    agency does work for Comme des Garçons, said, "I think Rei sets such
    high standards for herself. If you?re working there, it?s like Harvard
    Law School, and you know that.?

    For example, at one point during my conversation with Watanabe, who is
    46, he said that he?s often asked by other companies to do side work.
    He has done collaborations with brands like Brooks Brothers and
    Moncler. But, he said, "I can only manage to do what I do here. The
    work is so much that sometimes I want to escape.?

    I asked Watanabe what the source of that pressure was. He thought for a moment and said, "Kawakubo.?

    Later, she told me, "The pressure comes to them because I give it to
    myself. And it wouldn?t come to them if I didn?t give it to myself. The
    process of getting there is exactly the same for them ? not being
    satisfied. With Junya, I?m not sure how many times he repeats until he
    gets the perfect thing. I don?t know about his actual process. I don?t
    know how angry people get with him or how dissatisfied he gets with
    himself.?

    This surprised me a little. "You don?t know that?? I asked.

    Kawakubo shook her head. "If I interfered one second, then I?d have to
    do everything. There would be no end to it.? She added, "I imagine that
    what I want to do with an idea is clearer to me than what Junya may
    want to do. I get the impression that he goes in roundabout ways to
    find the solution.?

    As Kurihara suggested, the boundaries at Comme des Garçons extend to
    the designers? work areas and the collections they are preparing.
    Kawakubo and her team occupy the third floor. No one else is permitted
    to enter their studio. (I was allowed a glimpse, but it was basically
    an excursion to Delphi on an off day. Anything I might have hoped to
    see was shrouded in muslin.) Watanabe and Kurihara have separate
    studios on the second floor. They have complete creative control over
    their collections, and Kawakubo does not see them until they are
    presented in Paris.

    Teasingly, I asked Kurihara, who is tougher, I think, than she appears,
    if she would tell me what she is planning for her show later this
    month.

    "Oh, no!? she said, a hand going to her mouth. She giggled. "I can?t
    say.? I asked her if she tells Watanabe what she is doing. The hand
    dropped away, and a note of pride entered her voice. "In the beginning
    I would tell him,? she said. "But not now. I keep it separate.?

    For as much as journalists remark on Kawakubo?s cryptic silences, it is
    actually language ? or verbosity ? that inhibits the creative process,
    shutting off the possibilities of imagination. Katsuya Kamo, a
    hairstylist who works on Watanabe?s shows, said as much when he told
    me, "Western designers explain everything. ?The clothes like this, the
    music and lighting like that.? It gets complicated.? Watanabe, by
    contrast, says almost nothing, but that refusal, Kamo said, leaves the
    hairstylist room to exercise his own imagination. As he put it, "The
    Western designers give me a tiny space to work in, but Junya? ? Kamo
    spread his arms wide ? "is like this.?

    Kawakubo said she doesn?t know how other designers run their
    businesses, but she has the idea they?re not involved in every part.
    "Therefore, they haven?t got the courage or the faith to give something
    away or give someone in their company the freedom ? because it?s not
    all covered by one eye,? she said. "This company is very strict. I know
    exactly what Adrian is doing, what somebody else is doing. I always
    know whether it?s in the rule or breaking the rule. For me, it?s
    certain what Comme des Garçons is. I suspect with other companies, it?s
    not so black and white, and so maybe they don?t have the courage to do
    this kind of system.?

    Yet, as she readily admitted, the system contains a flaw. It was
    Kawakubo who planted the idea with Watanabe and the other designers of
    having their own labels, and it?s Kawakubo who ultimately has fiscal
    responsibility. This came up as Kawakubo and I were discussing Jun
    Takahashi, the designer of Undercover, who has managed to create a
    conceptual style in Japan that isn?t in the shadow of Comme des Garçons
    ? though, as he said, "Kawakubo has done everything.?

    "I think the depth and breadth of Jun may come from the fact that he is
    100 percent independent ? with all the advantages and disadvantage that
    it has,? Kawakubo told me. "Junya and Ganryu don?t have to worry about
    the bottom line.? She doesn?t see how that can be helped, though. "It?s
    plus and minus,? she said.

    In a way, Comme des Garçons functions like an old-fashioned guild
    system, preparing apprentices for the day when the master will leave.
    And one day she will leave. But the woman who constitutes the nearest
    thing to a moral center in the fashion world, who believes in acting on
    faith, does not plan to be forever a shrine to her own ideals. "When I
    stop, the Comme des Garçons brand will stop but the company will
    continue,? she said. The barest trace of a smile flickered across her
    face. "Doesn?t that go without saying??

    ...I mean the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art whose other half is the eternal and the immutable.

    Comment

    • philip nod
      Senior Member
      • Aug 2007
      • 5903

      #3
      Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn

      i heard at the gorilla store opening in LA the clothes were held up in customs. bummer.
      One wonders where it will end, when everything has become gay.

      Comment

      • soultek
        Senior Member
        • Feb 2007
        • 400

        #4
        Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn



        Thanks for posting, good read!



        Comment

        • aahhbes
          Junior Member
          • Nov 2007
          • 18

          #5
          Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn



          great article



          the structure of CDG is so refreshing to see versus the typical american brand structure and mentality



          the LA CDG opening was a bit of a bummer, no more old entrance, now through the side alley



          instead of clothes there was a shopping cart installation which was mildly entertaining.



          packed house though[img]%3Ca%20href=%22http://picasaweb.google.com/ahhbes/CDGLA/photo#5169520063756507090%22%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22htt p://lh3.google.com/ahhbes/R73TG9N2F9I/AAAAAAAAAME/KzkVMjVzSP8/s400/IMG_0360.JPG%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E[/img]

          Comment

          • Faust
            kitsch killer
            • Sep 2006
            • 37852

            #6
            Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn

            Thanks, laika. Good article - I like that it's not a happy CDG she portrays - no bubbly stuff.
            Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

            StyleZeitgeist Magazine

            Comment

            • sbw4224
              Senior Member
              • Sep 2006
              • 571

              #7
              Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn



              I'm impressed with Cathy's article. One of the best I've read on CDG.



              Thanks for posting this, Laika.

              Comment

              • zamb
                Senior Member
                • Nov 2006
                • 5834

                #8
                Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn



                I'm inspired by her, by them actually, the philosophy, the soul, the whole idea of acting on faith, which means a lot to me as almost everything i have accomplished was by acting on faith.



                the very moment i astart depending solely on reason and logic, everything falls apart . Its good to read something about someone, a company, a group of people , that gives me a faint belief, that i can do this profession, and do it my own way...................





                thanks for the Article Laika..........

                “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
                .................................................. .......................


                Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

                Comment

                • neshboe
                  Junior Member
                  • Nov 2007
                  • 16

                  #9
                  Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn

                  Loved the article. thanks for posting.


                  nesh

                  Comment

                  • Faust
                    kitsch killer
                    • Sep 2006
                    • 37852

                    #10
                    Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn

                    Ok, so we all missed the IMPORTANT part of this article. And it's right in the goddamn title (Gang of FOUR), lol!!! In the print version, there is a mention of the forth CDG designer. It's a guy, don't remember the name. His clothes are not presented yet, probably next season.
                    Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                    StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                    Comment

                    • jay
                      Member
                      • Mar 2008
                      • 52

                      #11
                      Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn

                      Love the following. Thanks for posting!

                      Comment

                      • whizkit
                        Junior Member
                        • Jun 2007
                        • 7

                        #12
                        Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn

                        Faust, i think you are talking about Ganryu. You can see some of (rather underwhelming ) pieces on the DSM site.

                        Comment

                        • AX-OV
                          Senior Member
                          • Feb 2008
                          • 219

                          #13
                          Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn



                          Yea, bummer clothes got held up.. I actually just got back from the Guerilla store. The door guy Thomas is the man!



                          They get new shipments in EVERY friday. Every time I visit there is a bunch of new stuff. Some good stuff right now too!



                          On my blog I've written a few things about it, and lots of photo's!

                          Comment

                          • gerry
                            Senior Member
                            • Feb 2008
                            • 309

                            #14
                            Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn



                            Wonderful article. Thanks for posting.



                            While I love the way Cathy portrayed CDG, it was this sentence really stood out to me:



                            "Kawakubo?s influence, then, on the self-perceptions of women, on beauty and, above all, on tailoring, is not what it once was."



                            Hm.

                            Comment

                            • Faust
                              kitsch killer
                              • Sep 2006
                              • 37852

                              #15
                              Re: Gang of Four: Comme des Garcons by Cathy Horyn



                              [quote user="whizkit"]Faust, i think you are talking about Ganryu. You can see some of (rather underwhelming ) pieces on the DSM site.
                              [/quote]



                              Is that it? Maybe. I don't remember the guy's name, but it's there in the print edition.

                              Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                              StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                              Comment

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