Rei Kawakubo (Japanese, b. 1942) for Comme des Garçons (Japanese, founded 1969). Headdress by Stephen Jones (British, b. 1957). Ensemble, spring/summer 2006. Navy wool gabardine, red, yellow, white, and black tartan cotton, and yellow, brown, and white tartan wool; silver metal and brown leather; Union Jack–printed cotton. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Comme des Garçons, 2007 (2007.306a–d).
Rei Kawakubo has on occasion displayed a surprising affinity for contemporary British street fashion. Some of her earliest Paris collections alluded to punk and neo-romantic styles through the filter of her own strong deconstructivist aesthetic. For example, her sweater with holes—the result, Kawakubo explained, of her deliberate disabling of a knitting machine—was a refined rendering of the loosely woven web sweaters on Kings Road.
In this ensemble, several tartans, with their rich political narratives and association with the history of the Scottish resistance, are combined in an untraditional jumble. At the end of the eighteenth century, when Scottish plaids were first systematically codified, every pattern and color-way conveyed familial ties. Like Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, Kawakubo manipulates the highly symbolic textile for its radical, as well as its traditional, connotations. The original tartan ensemble was a long rectangle of cloth wrapped around the waist and fixed by a belt, with the excess fabric thrown over the shoulder in a togalike drape. Kawakubo plays with the premise of the tartan as draped cloth to develop her design. The designer’s rebellious and anarchic conceit is expressed in the punk reference of the Union Jack headscarf and Mad Max, post-apocalyptic headpiece, designed in collaboration with the British milliner Stephen Jones.
December 19, 2007 at 10:24 am
While Kawakubo is obviously playing with tartan and Western street dress, the draping of the “skirt” reminds me of the draped trouser-type garments of men’s traditional Thai dress, and even the upper part of the jacket is not unlike traditional Thai women’s jackets. I wonder whether Kawakubo is deliberately blending elements of Eastern and Western dress.
December 19, 2007 at 12:36 pm
I love this desings. Rei definately outdid himself, I can see some Vivienne Westwood influence, e.g. the crown, the tartan and overall construction. What I find amazing is that she can make it her own and make it appealing. I adore it.
December 19, 2007 at 4:53 pm
This ensemble reminds me of so many things: women in 1940s Paris, dealing with wartime restrictions and making do with what fashion they could cobble together for themselves before stepping out the door; echoes of zoot suits; the minor nobility of Sarawak; and the costumes of “The King and I,” ie the ones worn by the royal ladies before they were stuffed into crinolines. I find it a fascinating outfit because of its clashing possibilities and cultural crosscurrents. There’s also a bit of Harlem in its Renaissance days, don’t you think?
December 19, 2007 at 5:10 pm
increible!!
December 20, 2007 at 2:20 am
hi, I wonder whether Kawakubo is deliberately blending elements of Eastern and Western dress. happy holidays http://rolex.forumotion.com
December 20, 2007 at 9:54 am
One thing that must be addressed in fashion is the system itself. If designers like McQueen and Kuwakubo deconstruct the notion of femininity with their clothes and continue to produce these highly subjective interpretations of things that deviate from the notion of the many, then it must continue to reflect that notion. What Kuwakubo and McQueen for example has started creating a fashion consciousness that is in tune with a counter culture working against a dominant culture. At the runway, we may see these pieces in their pure creative vision as expressed by the couturier but sometimes when they are put inside a museum, they seem to be returning to that same notion of fashion synonymous to glamour and conventional beauty. The essence of creative vision and subjectivity is easily lost once it comes in the context or realm of the fashion system.
December 20, 2007 at 8:22 pm
The red tartan sash would be incredible belted over a black body-con dress, with little heeled booties and a big knit hat. The black top/jacket, any modern woman could wear with her dark denim and a great pair of shoes. The skirt, with a little knit tank on top and flats, is exactly what I want to wear everyday. I like Rei’s clothes because they are unusual and avant-garde, yet very wearable for the average woman when paired with basics. But I also love them because, worn together in an intelligent way and with an artistic eye, the same item which made the basic tee-and-jeans outfit POP becomes something else entirely, something more thought-provoking and dare I say, more fun. How refreshing to have the option!
December 21, 2007 at 9:54 am
As individual pieces, each is a wonderful accent piece. Taken as a whole, it overwhelms me.
December 21, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I happened to come across this lovely image. How did the model get to drape the blanket between her thighs ? It must be an uncomfortable frisson though. I assume that she had her right arm amputated in order to be able to better balance the accumulation on her head. I would propose to place all these charming models as spectators everywhere in the museum galleries to delight the madding crowds.
December 21, 2007 at 1:48 pm
heap of laundry tossed
landed on a mannekin:
she called it a dress
December 21, 2007 at 6:17 pm
I love how this peice reflects the true benefits of globalization, that a designer from Japan could find such inspiration from Scottish tartan to create a fascinating hodgepodge success.
December 22, 2007 at 11:29 am
“Tomato Dress”
tomato.
red, splattered, lycopene-filled
stains will not come out, even with oxy-clean
delicious, goes with lettuce
but i think i’ll stick to simple white.
tomato.
December 22, 2007 at 11:39 am
many different fabrics went into this gown
but i still wouldnt wear it to town.
no matter how much craftsmanship was put in
it still looks like my dirty-clothes bin.
though some say it’s mod
i dont want it on my bod
unless i was disguised as someone who
i’ve taken a dislike to.
(wards.)
December 22, 2007 at 11:40 am
heap of laundry landed on my head
i cried
December 22, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Is it right that a fashion manufacturer can “donate” its way into the Metropolian Museum’s collection? Did they get a tax deduction as well as this free advertisement?
December 22, 2007 at 4:42 pm
good????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 22, 2007 at 4:51 pm
I like all of this dress exept the crown.
December 22, 2007 at 5:38 pm
The draping and tying of the two tartans make a dynamic garment with lots of brio, but the jacket, while grounding them, seems unnatural and clumsy.
December 23, 2007 at 3:09 pm
interesting but can an ordinary person wear it-I could not
December 23, 2007 at 3:49 pm
This ish delicious…and fergilicious.
December 23, 2007 at 3:52 pm
WACk
December 24, 2007 at 12:29 pm
well, have to say that I really love this. can I have it? please?
December 24, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Pretty but you couldn’t actually do anything in it for fear of it unraveling
December 24, 2007 at 1:02 pm
very cool! i could wear it right out the door.
December 24, 2007 at 1:08 pm
interesting but i dont really like it very much =[
December 25, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I think Rei Kawakubo has done some very insightful and brilliant things, but this isn’t one of them. I’m not embarrassed to look at it and say, HUH? It has a random influence salad quality. I have to admit, thought, that I’m greatly biased against plaid in any form.
December 26, 2007 at 3:29 pm
i have just one question: how do you put it on????
December 26, 2007 at 4:13 pm
this is the weirdest outfit & i feel sorry for Scots cuz this is so ugly- did u c the hat?
December 26, 2007 at 4:17 pm
I mean seriously- a crown? Now, all of u who’d where that- I have no words to xpress my shame on what u would wear. U r pathetic.
December 26, 2007 at 4:46 pm
That style is what I’ve seen some homeless people in (minus the hat). I would call this, the tied up look.
December 26, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Highland Fling this in the garbage!
December 27, 2007 at 12:29 pm
This dress is disgusting.
December 27, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Nacho should go to another exhibition
December 27, 2007 at 12:39 pm
this capteres the hilands fun side with wild partys. whith the plaid it shows what the hilands has to offer and the coat its blue gray show what the sky is like there
December 27, 2007 at 1:15 pm
If I saw anyone wearing this I think I’d puke.
December 27, 2007 at 2:17 pm
This insipid ensemble looks like a gradeschool home-ec project on crack.
December 27, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Long live the royals!!!!!!!
December 27, 2007 at 3:41 pm
I like the sparkling dresses. I want to wear them.
December 27, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Jeffrey Sebelia created a very similar “couture” design for “Project Runway”. Inspiration, slavic pandering, or psychic channeling? You decide!
December 27, 2007 at 4:03 pm
If I created this for my art class, I’d be laughed out of the country.
December 27, 2007 at 4:45 pm
WEIRD LOOKING
December 27, 2007 at 4:57 pm
the hair hat is disgusting i would never use it is hair on hair
December 27, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Not my cup of tea, however I’m not really one for plaids though I understand Rei’s influence. However, I believe there could have been a better amalgamation of pieces than this. This is a bit too bold.
December 28, 2007 at 10:51 am
What’s with the crown thing? And the whole thing clashes. There’s a giant stripe of black, a giant stripe of red, and the a huge wad of leapord print… weird…
December 28, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Beautiful. I love the clash between East and West here. Great dynamic.
December 28, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Ummmmmm… it has a good color contrast but it seriously lacks shape and i wouldn’t ever wear it. :[
December 28, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Somehow the plaid just makes me think bag pipes and kilts, good thing the jacket and hat don’t say celtic
December 29, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Looks like a ragga-muffin. Too much Plaid!!!!
December 30, 2007 at 12:51 pm
this particular piece moved me in a direction of violence and serenity
December 30, 2007 at 1:47 pm
yucky. I could drape fabric and sew it and call it art. It would look better and I’m 13
December 30, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Nat and Lane are father and son from New Orleans, LA. All of the fashion exhibits are spectacular. The Egyptian Exhibit is nice. Only have 1 more hour have to go.
January 2, 2008 at 2:57 pm
rei kawakubu was mad,
so she rumpled her mother’s good plaid.
what was meant for the milk maid
is now proudly displayed
in the fashion exhibit — how sad!
January 3, 2008 at 1:25 pm
groovy
January 3, 2008 at 1:26 pm
maks me want to shout!
January 3, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Rei has gotten a little tired in her old age.
Therefore, she doesn’t really have time to drape or sew anymore……
Now she just knots the fabric onto the body…..
I suppose you can call that “innovative”
I call it blah.
ps. it also looks like a weird vivienne westwood knockoff…..Viv would have done it better.
January 3, 2008 at 3:16 pm
The dress is VERY interesting
January 4, 2008 at 3:35 pm
At first I thought that this was a mcQueen but when I saw who the designer really was I wasnt surprised. I have seen similar work by this designer that has rthe same feeling. I feel like this is a brilliant piece.
January 4, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I like the collaboration and superposition of different tartans, this aspect represents British art with the different genealogy attached to the pattern of the Tartan. In response to street fashion, it speaks to the modern mish-mosh we wear. I feel like it’s a bit chiquita banana–Carmen Miranda, but also 1920’s Parisian fashion. Creative.
January 5, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I LOVE this dress! The use and matching of the different plaids is simply
AH-MAZING! The draping is innovative and ingenius and interesting…I’d wear it in a minute!
January 7, 2008 at 12:29 pm
This ensemble would look perfect if tweaked to fit an avantgarde Lady Macbeth out for an early afternoon picnic on the heath…
January 8, 2008 at 11:09 am
This dress is cool in terms of the way it wants to portray British fashion style with the tartans and a very funky looking head scarf and head piece.
January 9, 2008 at 9:48 am
I like the somewhat-crown-like headpiece and the amount of plaid, though the yellowish plaid towards the bottom isn’t my favorite. The blazery part on the upper-right part of the design is great too. Love the punky vibe to it, but it’s high fashion, entialing it’s great as a work of art, but I wouldn’t often see this worn in commercial fashion.
January 9, 2008 at 10:53 am
the colors are perfectly complementary and the contrast between puffy and tight draws your eye and gives it a feminine touch.
January 15, 2008 at 2:28 pm
not a fan of tartan combo’d like this
just too much fabric
and it looks unfinished
January 19, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I think this piece is very vintage but not my style….Any way its ok.
January 24, 2008 at 11:06 am
I really love the way this outfit was put together. The fact that there is no color coordination and the way it was just sort of “thrown on” is eye catching.The jacket is really cute as well because it looks like something that young girls would wear today.Personally i don’t really like the way the plaid and the stripes were put together because it kind of clashes. However, Rei Kawakubo did a great job on this.
February 1, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Superb design, buta -as a very plain, fat and ordinary person - I ask mayself how this come into my life
February 1, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Innovative? Sure. Terribly awkward? Yeah. Comme des Garçons? Without a doubt.
February 2, 2008 at 2:36 pm
i love the plaid. it rules.
February 3, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Um… I like the plaid, but it kind of looks like it was all just thrown together. Maybe it had a little TOO much work put in to it. But it looks very cool as well and artistic.
February 3, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I like how they put it together but I dont like the fabric.
February 5, 2008 at 1:36 am
It looks like there was not really a technique in the elaboration of this garment, the designer maybe took the first 2 fabrics on her way and wrapped them very quickly arround the silhouette, then came home, because it was too late and time to sleep (and certainly even didnt take a final last look…), for me this is not something a woman can wear, its more a piece of art (artists mind expression). This” ensemble” is not really one for me, the top, the skirt, the jacket have nothing in common, I just dont know why they are together…my curiosity makes that “ensemble” interesting. But when I read the punk and neo romantic influence for the creation of this garment, I understand, it s just the mixing of 2 very different styles (the puffy skirt is neo-romantic..while the colors, plaids are punk)…but still…why?!!! these sooo different ones together. If I can say that style, the colors, the plaids , the draping , remind me the style of traditional creole woman costum, then somewhere its very exotic.
February 8, 2008 at 4:49 pm
this is so different. i love it
February 11, 2008 at 10:11 pm
I absolutely love this! Each individual piece of the ensemble make it overwhelming, but in a good way. If I were putting together an outfit for myself, I would never think to match up those three very different piece of fabric, designs and colors. Everything contrasts, but works together so nicely. I find it masculine and extremely feminine at the same time.
Reminds me for some reason of the gown Alexander McQueen designed for Sarah Jessica Parker to wear to the Costume Institute’s Ball back in 2006. Both equally fabulous!
February 12, 2008 at 1:42 pm
COMPLETELY FABULOUS~!!!!
February 26, 2008 at 2:03 pm
omg omg omg omg I LUV THIS DRESS!!!!!!!!!!! not
February 29, 2008 at 10:29 am
This ensemble is very interesting how the garment ran into various use of fabrics, and representing a political narrative with feminine touches to it. I guess this piece is inspired from the bustle period, the years between 1870 and 1890. By that time, the bustle had more attention to the back of the dress, however in this piece, the designer Rei Kawakubo had adopted the bustles that are mainly concentrated on the front. The dress looks very unusual and avant-garde, looking like it is a combination of ideas derived from both eastern and western ways of draping. Designers like Vivienne Westwood, and Alexander Mcqueen, for example, created designs like this piece too.
March 4, 2008 at 10:27 am
the mix of textures and volume, just amazing!
March 9, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I personally dont like it but more power to the people that do! Thats what the USofA is all about!(The power to speak what you think!)