SFashionista: H&M's Rei Kawakubo Line Arrives Just in Time to Ward off Economic Blues
(Photos courtesy H&M)
By Otto Chan
The world is going to hell in a hand basket. I mean, seriously, Armageddon must be near when you’re too scared of the plunging stock market (and dwindling retirement funds) to buy those skinny jeans, and the only way you’d feel better about yourself is if you rummage through your old clothes and do some fair trade at the nearest Buffalo Exchange.
All right kiddies, let’s say you want designer clothes but you really don’t want to buy the he wore/she wore-already outfit (at wacky “vintage” prices that rise as the economy shrinks). Well here’s the good news, boys and girls: H&M is proud to present a new line by Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons (which is French for “like boys”). One of the most significant figures in modern fashion, Kawakubo has created a full men and women’s collection for H&M, complete with accessories and a unisex fragrance. Her pieces all have the uncompromising Comme des Garçons spirit, yet will all be available at H&M’s brilliantly accessible (now a practical necessity) prices.
For all of you who are not familiar with Comme des Garçons, here’s the download: it was a big hit in Japan throughout the 1970s with a men’s line added in 1978. Its debut show in Paris was around 1981 and through the 80s, the clothes caused a stir for their lack of color and their distressed fabrics – think black, asymmetrical, lumpy, bumpy, and big.
Of course, that was the look back then. Nowadays color has been incorporated into the collection. There’s a new dimension to Rei’s sense of edge, a tension behind each fold and cut, which still carries on her traditional asymmetrical style, but into the 21st century.
Polka dot prints are consistent, and dark colors offer a transition from fall to winter trend. It’s wonderful to see the complexity to the outfits – this is not your straight box cut wardrobe. Yet the clothes seem to fit just right, and still give a bit of a breathing room.
This design seems good enough for both parties; you can dress conservative, but you’ll have an edge that will say otherwise. Look out for Comme des Garçons in H&M stores on November 13th.
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