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The Comme des Garçons "Universe"
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Re: The Comme des Garçons "Universe"
You are welcome laika.
I didn't know this is the person behind the Warsaw Guerrilla store and A4 magazine when I first saw his pics on the Sartorialist blog (cool Junya jacket). Thanks for the introduction nqth. Nice pics on your blog btw....thanks for sharing.
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Re: The Comme des Garçons "Universe"
hmmmmmmmmmm... those shorts on the right... are those womens...?; )
"AVANT GUARDE HIGHEST FASHION. NOW NOW this is it people, these are the brands no one fucking knows and people are like WTF. they do everything by hand in their freaking secret basement and shit."
STYLEZEITGEIST MAGAZINE | BLOG
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Re: The Comme des Garçons "Universe"
the Lanvin display is pretty crazy. Thanks for the photos nqth.
How is the TAO line doing?
also,how did the warsaw guerrilla store do? do most of the guerrilla stores profited from selling mostly t-shirts and light items?
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Re: The Comme des Garçons "Universe"
You are welcome Buckwheat. I don't know about TAO I am afraid. I think the G (it's in Krakow right now) here sells quite lot of men jkts, the shirts are not selling well imo, too expensive. Best sellersare perfumes ofcourse:-)
They sold all the Jan stuffs at once when someone came from Paris.
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Re: The Comme des Garçons "Universe"
An interview with Adrian Joffe.http://wallpaper.com
Have the first two and half years at Dover Street Market gone according to plan or have you updated and adapted things as you?ve gone along?
Our plan in fact was to continually change and update the store. From the very beginning we wanted something alive that could lend itself well to changes and evolution.
Tell us a little about the changes you?ve undertaken to the store?
There have been countless changes: the basement has already gone through three incarnations, new concessions have been added, furniture has been completely changed, wall constructed and taken away, new backdrops painted. It?s hard to talk ?a little? about the changes we?ve done here!
How have the labels you stock alongside Comme de Garcons changed, or developed?
They?ve been added to extensively. We keep trying to make more space for more people.
Are the portakabins still there?
Most certainly.
A lot of people have commented on the film-set feel to Howell?s interior- was this intentional?
Absolutely. We decided not to work with architects, but with film and stage set designers, of which Michael Howells is our favourite. We wanted to see the backside of the backdrop as well.
What we love particularly about DSM is the very effortless, non-aggressive anti-corporate feel to the space- so at odds with every other retail space within a square mile- is this something you?ve consciously cultivated?
This is indeed what we wanted, an ever-changing interaction of creative ideas and diverse visions coming together in the context of a market place, without taking any notice of rules, regulations and market forces. However, we also always wanted to remain, at heart, just a shop that sells nice things in a cool atmosphere ? not an exhibition place, not a gallery, not a museum and certainly not a place where fashion met art.
How do the clientele of DSM differ to those of your other flagships? It seems to have become a fashion tourist attraction in its own right.
The clientele is certainly much wider than in our Paris and New York stores, perhaps given there?s just so much choice. And yes it does appear we?ve become something of a tourist attraction too, which is fine.
Could DSM have worked in Paris or New York, do you think?
No, I don?t think so. DSM for us remains very much anchored in the spirit and energy of London, from which it drew its inspiration. In another city it would inevitably have to be something different. And in any case, we never do the same shop twice since it?s important for us that each of our shops has a connection with its location, no matter how abstract.
Your guerrilla concept stores have been immensely popular all over the world. Where did your inspiration come from and how do they work alongside your permanent flagships in London, Paris and New York?
The guerrilla concept was born out of the starting-up energy from East Berlin, where kids would take a tiny space for a hundred dollars a month, and just do their own thing. We?ve now opened and closed 29 guerrilla stores, all completely different, all with very different people, who don?t work in the fashion business as such. We?ve not yet considered a guerrilla store in London, Paris or New York as the main idea is to break new grounds in markets not yet developed. But as a concept, guerrilla stores sit nicely with DSM and everything else we do, as everything essentially adheres to our core sense of values.
And what of your future plans?
We?re just opening a new guerrilla store in Beirut, and looking forward to some Comme de Garcons flagship stores in China coming up soon.
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Re: The Comme des Garçons "Universe"
It really comes as a surprise. But it is a good move imo:-)
Comme des Garçons builds niche perfume empire
Suzy Menkes
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/...e/FPERFUME.php
PARIS: She is a muse and fashion icon, with a wild nest of pale hair and a consummate skill for mixing vintage drapes with haute couture. He is a magical milliner of mad hats that have helped make the romantic reputation of John Galliano.
What do Daphne Guinness and Stephen Jones have in common - apart from their English eccentric style? They are both launching first fragrances under the auspices of Adrian Joffe, who heads up the company of his partner Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons and has developed for her a fragrance empire.
The idea of Joffe as the beauty industry's new prince of perfume sounds unlikely. But, as Joffe says, there is an increasing demand for niche marketing in this area where big does not always seem so beautiful.
"We're not Proctor & Gamble," says Joffe, who has nonetheless had a surprisingly large roster of successful launches.
The proof is in the steady development of Comme des Garçons fragrances since the early beginnings in 1993. When its Eau de Parfum was launched around the swimming pool at the Ritz, it seemed more like a medicinal congress than a beauty event, as bags of yellow liquid were the decoration of choice.
Instead of the standard $50,000 launch parties that reverberated through the 1990s, Comme des Garçons brought out a different concept each year, with the 1999 series of "Leaves" a hit with customers.
By 2002, Joffe's skill was recognized when he signed a partial deal with Puig, one of the most savvy European fragrance groups.
But Comme des Garçons Parfum has remained an individualist and a family affair.
Jones explains that he worked closely with Kawakubo herself on his concept, saying "she's not a perfume person," but that "she is a very good editor."
"It is something I always wanted to do," says Jones. "I was thinking about a fragrance for ages, but I didn't know who to do it with. I am trying to make something original that is familiar and user-friendly."
So what will be the essence of his new perfume that will be launched next summer?
"It's about hats - about ephemera, an illusion of beauty and transience," says Jones, who worked with Comme des Garçons' perfumer Christian Astuguevieille on the juice.
While Kawakubo has always been labeled an iconoclast, Joffe has broken the mold in a more nuanced way. The Dover Street Market, set up as a London multi-brand store, was dismissed as an aberration in the era of brand retail flagships. But now, with its mix of cool and traditional fashion and accessories - not least from Comme des Garçons' own labels, the store is looking increasingly visionary.
So can quirky individuals with a strong vision and point of view really crack the fragrance market? The Japanese designer Jun Takahashi, the creator behind the cool Undercover label, has already signed up with Comme des Garçons - as has Monocle magazine. The financial side is also moving ahead, with wholesale figures up 32 percent to $3.5 million for year end to May 2007 and profits rising by 50 percent. (This is apart from royalties from the Puig license.)
The new phase of development will see Comme des Garçons managing its independent names and paying them a royalty. "Our role is like a producer in a movie," says Joffe. "And like a producer, we have to be satisfied with the plot and the text."
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Re: The Comme des Garçons "Universe"
I like the lights! Delirium. [Y] Thanks for posting.
Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde
StyleZeitgeist Magazine
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