Rei Kawakubo is famously aloof. The 83-year-old Comme des Garçons designer refrains from public speaking, rarely gives interviews or releases statements, and when she does, leans on her husband and CDG CEO Adrian Joffe as her interpreter. 

However, since founding Comme in 1969, her vehicle for communication has often been her work. Her sculptural, avant-garde designs usually carry a message that pokes holes in modern society – take her SS97 Lumps and Bumps collection, for example, which challenged the fashion industry’s ideals of body image, or her Broken Bride AW05 collection, which questioned women’s roles in society. 

Kawakubo has also been known to share anti-war sentiments throughout her work. Last year, she delivered an AW25 Homme Plus collection titled To hell with war, and this season she continued the theme through a more hopeful lens. Yesterday evening (June 26), the Japanese designer presented her SS27 Comme des Garçons Homme Plus show, titled If the war were to end. 

With both collections shown during a time of devastating global conflict, last year’s To hell with war offered a chilling and angry interpretation of our times – models appeared wearing military garb that had been decorated with funeral flowers. As for yesterday’s show, Kawakubo took an idealistic approach to menswear, imagining what life might look like once the war is over. 

For SS27, Kawakubo abstained from her love of black, instead showing a collection made up almost entirely of pinstripes in bright, candy colours. Camo prints made a brief appearance, although were almost undetectable, transformed by psychedelic shades of coral, lilac, sage and sky blue. While AW25 featured army helmets, SS27 gave us sun hats, piled high on top of every model’s head. 

A sense of joy vibrated throughout the show – felt through the choral a capella soundtrack, as well as the freaky, exaggerated, winklepicker toes. It may have been merely a fantasy, but if someone who loves the dark as much as Kawakubo can find the light, then maybe we could all make room for a little more optimism in our lives.

Scroll through the gallery at the top of the page for the whole SS27 collection