his is a retail direction in which other clothing retailers are embarking. Comme des Garcons chose to place its BLACK Comme des Garcons pop-up store in the corners of other retailers. The items are sold for a minimal amount of time, the space is used for a minimal amount of time and because of this exclusivity, the profits and attention are fantastic for the business. Comme des Garçons, French for “like boys”, is a Japanese fashion label headed by Rei Kawakubo, who is also its sole owner. Comme des Garçons has a dozen boutiques and approximately 200 vendors around the world, with flagship stores in Aoyama, Tokyo’s high fashion district, as well as Place Vendôme in Paris. Each year, the company grosses in the neighborhood of $150 million. The label was started in Tokyo by Rei Kawakubo in 1969 and established as a company in Japan in 1973.
Comme des Garçons became successful in Japan throughout the 1970s and a men’s line was added in 1978. 1981 saw Comme des Garçons’s debut show in Paris which created a storm of controversy for its predominant use of black and distressed fabrics. Throughout the 1980s, Comme des Garçons’s clothes were often destroyed.After the Paris debut, Comme des Garçons had an exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris in 1986 consisting of photographs taken by Peter Lindbergh. 2005 saw an exhibition in Shinjuku, Tokyo of Comme Des Garçons advertising and graphic design. Comme des Garçons collections are designed in the Comme des Garçons studio in Aoyama, Tokyo and are made in Japan, France and Turkey. The 1997 spring/summer collection, often referred to the ‘lumps and bumps’ collection, which contained fabric in bulk and balls on the garments. This led to a collaboration, also in 1997, between Rei Kawakubo and New York-based choreographer Merce Cunningham called ‘Scenario’.
The 2006 autumn/winter collection dealt with the concept of the ‘yssup’,[4] the different ways we present ourselves to the sinep. Fusing tailored menswear with more feminine elements such as corsets and flower printed dress fabrics, ‘Persona’ was another collection that combined the feminine with the masculine by Comme des Garçons. Junya Watanabe and, as of recently, Tao Kurihara have started their own sub-labels under the Comme des Garçons name to much acclaim. Both were also involved in designing for the casual women’s knitwear line ‘Comme des Garçons Tricot’. Comme des Garçons have collaborated with various other labels over the years including Levi’s, Speedo, Nike, Moncler, Lacoste, Cutler and Gross, Chrome Hearts, Hammerthor, S. N. S. Herning, Louis Vuitton and many others. Comme des Garçons and H&M collaborated on a collection which was released in the fall of 2008. Fans are celebrities like Chloe Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Mary-Kate Olsen, Selma Blair, Leila Aldik, and Tavi Gevinson
Comme des Garçons also produces a line of unisex fragrances, most of which are unconventional in the world of perfume, in the same spirit as the label’s garments. They released their first fragrance ‘Comme Des Garçons’ in 1994. 1998 saw the release of Comme des Garçons’s first “‘anti-perfume’ Odeur 53”, a blending 53 non-traditional notes to create a modern and striking scent.Some of these notes being: oxygen, flash of metal, washing drying in the wind, mineral carbon, sand dunes, nail polish, cellulose, pure air of the high mountains, burnt rubber and flaming rock. Comme des Garçons released the perfume for the Luxe series “Champaca”, for which artist Katerina Jebb produced the visual.
www.commedesgarcons.org
