Fresh from giving us her take on ‘the future of silhouette’ at her AW17 show in Paris, designer Rei Kawakubo made a rare public appearance today to share more details about the upcoming Met retrospective of her work. On her behalf, her husband Adrian Joffe and other close associates addressed the media at a press conference near the Comme des Garçons HQ on the Place Vendôme, giving us the most information about the show we’ve had so far. Here’s what you need to know.
‘Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between’ is set to run from the opening night (aka the Met Gala, famously the first Monday in May – hosted this year by Gisele Bündchen and husband Tom Brady) to the 4th of September. The only other retrospective of a living designer (besides Yves Saint Laurent) the museum has done, it will cover the designer’s career from her startling Paris debut in 1981 to the present day – in 150 looks displayed in a maze of different shapes.
The space will be split into eight sections – Fashion/Anti-Fashion, Design/Not Design, Model/Multiple, Then/Now, High/Low, Self/Other, Object/Subject and Clothes/Not Clothes – which sound like the few often obscure words Kawakubo gives as a description for her collections. Object/Subject in particular, will tackle the 1997 Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body show, which drew comparisons to tumours – and was subsequently nicknamed ‘Lumps and Bumps’.
Clothes/Not Clothes will feature the last eight seasons, as the designer’s work has become increasingly more like sculpture than clothing – and all will have headpieces designed by long-time collaborator, Julien d’Ys. Together with the rest of the pieces on display, they demonstrate the way Kawakubo has managed to change our perception of fashion over time – without ever having to compromise her artistic vision. We can’t wait.
Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between will run from 4 May-4 September. Stay tuned for more details.
