REI KAWAKUBO - COMME des GARCONS - RENEGADES OF FASHION FILM SERIES

[Music] the old guard of fashion despised her the critics never understood her but for a calico ball founder of the renowned fashion label comme des Garcons that was always the point for the more polarizing and collection was the more success it accrued assuring in a new era of anti fashion a deconstructed Wonderland of Na capable of creating strong provocative pieces for women with a defiant desire to dress in a way that reflected their own unique sensibilities calico boy was born in Tokyo in 1942 the eldest of three siblings and sole daughter of the family her father was an administrator at Keio University her mother a trained English teacher whom remained at home to raise the family though she insisted her home life was comfortable even ordinary cow a cool ball came from a family of divorce a rarity in Japanese culture at the time her mother had wished to enter the workforce when her children came of age her father however expressly forbade it in most Japanese households during that time and of their social standing this would have been the end of discussion the patriarchal law meant his word was final but the cow aku boys were no ordinary family their mother insisted on a divorce leaving her husband to fulfill her own dream of becoming a high school teacher I think my mother actually I mean she she she I'm so she thought about divorce but she couldn't she didn't do it and then I remember actually talking to her why do you want to do it why don't you do it but she was too worried about what other people think of her and she's worried about actually being outdoor extraordinary you know just one actually she makes sure that I see is enough in a box that would be very minute so that said her mama got the ball / oh that's actually highly unusual it was an act that instilled a sense of defiance in her young daughter teaching the values of independence and determination the defining moment that Cal Cobra would look to for resolve over the course of her life in 1960 Kokubo attended her father's University and undertook a degree in the history of aesthetics a course that considered both Eastern and Western culture and art my mother was born in 1930 and in that when the war Second World War ended it was 90 or 45 she was 15 and she often talked about absolutely how poor everyone wants but yet actually a her mom or her father rather how further was it all yeah so well quite where off Anna she she went to university and it was very very unusual and then that was nineteen fifties early fifties yes I can imagine actually that what like you know what you're talking about I've been in regard to a colorful world family that come in it was such a brave a move before someone when she graduated in 1964 she left home and without telling her parents moved into a shared apartment in the seamy harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo Kawakubo has always asserted that she owns a duality of personality and her early adult years did much to cultivate this notion while the bohemian lifestyle of the Harajuku spoke to her an inherent desire to break the rules the other half gifted through education and the affluent social circle she formed during university held a deep concern for both tradition and history this dichotomy would eventually be shown through her sense of design an appreciation for traditional Japanese construction undercut by a desire to invert traditional ideals of fashion for shock value kao Ikuo found a job in the advertising department of Asahi kassay a textile manufacturer she was afforded an uncommon amount of leeway in her new position refusing to wear the standard uniform of an office girl and assisting in photo shoots by finding props and sourcing costumes she held a significant talent for the latter eventually one of her colleagues insisted kao Ikuo become a freelance stylist which was uncommon for the time when she couldn't find the appropriate clothes for her assignments despite a lack of formal sartorial training Kao a cool board began to design her own by 1969 two years after joining Asahi kassay she was confident enough in her skills to begin designing under her own label comme des Garcons French for like some boys after a few successful years selling her designs in local stores she incorporated the label in 1973 I think um also within Japan I mean she said it actually decorate her company 1970 I think inspired thought of women and being dependent and I believe in their career and apasher way because it was unusual for women to to pursue their career you know by 1975 she had opened her first boutique in Tokyo it was around this period Kawakubo became romantically involved with fellow Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto for my total life I comfortable being in black noting the light there were alumni attending the same University and shared a proclivity for design creating clothing that challenged traditional concepts of beauty dark oversized and asymmetrical garments that fail to adapt to the contours of the human body they lived together for over 10 years and they hid their creativity from each other they didn't share information on their collection it must have been totally schizophrenic I once a CEO seen in your private life is really like this and he said no she's very sweet although they never collaborated they were close traveling companions making their international debut in the same year as fellow contemporary designer easy Miyake the three were tagged as the renegade Japanese designers determined to push Western conventions so one year ago I I talked to her right now let's go to Paris because we are free but I was sitting in Japan why don't you go to Paris with me and she told me no no my campaign cannot make it seem possible she said I don't know you can't go first okay and I will go first okay [Music] but the finery very coolly coincidently to japanese design made a shop opening show she made on this show in hotel anyway to design from japan made a show not that karoku bow ever appreciated the comparison I'm not very happy to be classified as another Japanese designer she remarked in 1983 there is no one characteristic that all Japanese designers have happiness was an elusive characteristic for kaua kuba she rarely smiles Paul's disdain for the social conventions of small talk and by her own admission is angry all the time her bitter melancholy is reflected even in the earliest of her designs the jagged and fraying edges of her asymmetrical garments textured with her signature black tone so often used to appear slimming and beautiful in Western culture in the hands of Kohaku bow it signaled an emptiness within fashion absence rather than presence let's get rid of the ideas that have been around for a long time such as folklore and traditions and let's start again with something new for you but all would you like to choose the women who wear your clothes no not at all doesn't it apply to women to change the way they live well if it does I'd be very happy even as she expanded into color later in her career believing the tone to be tired black remained an integral feature of Conda Ghassan through her noir line Kawakubo developed as a designer over the next decade she became fascinated with imperfection in her eyes perfection was the devil unlike the Japanese temples of old her garments remained unfinished to resist such temptation her preoccupation with a symmetrical shapes was born out of an interest in modern architecture and the traditional flat layered styling of the kimono her garments adhering to flexibility in comfort rather than the standard silhouette that defined the orthodoxy of Western Beauty more than anything the clothes have come to Carson represented attitude the desire to find new and provocative concepts within fashion to shocked and upset the status quo through innovation revolutionizing the world of design they were almost anarchistic in their intent indeed the matriarch of rebellion Vivienne Westwood once described kaua coober as a punk at heart by the late 1970s comme des Garcons was one of the most influential provocative labels in Japan and the greater East she had added a men's line in 1978 uncom des Garcons when even developed a cult following consisting of anti fashion enthusiasts the Japanese press labeled as crows and yet despite her rampant popularity in the east karoku bore was still relatively unknown in the West that all changed in the early 1980s comme des Garcons had debuted in Paris in 1981 turning heads with her deconstructed flowing garments but it was her collection the following year that summoned a storm of controversy and shook the conventions of Western fashion to its core I already am I always thought that the Ray calico Venusian motto were inseparable because they they shared such a similar philosophy I mean I'm talking about actually 1980-81 they both presented dominantly black collection and raged big holes everywhere [Music] the aptly titled destroy collection of 1982 all black militaristic and damn near apocalyptic destroy caused of Thor or amongst the Parisian press who condemned the collection as Hiroshima's revenge models in Furious war paint thundered down the runway to the incessant beat of war drums draped in oversized garments loosely knit and scarred with holes as if slashed with a cable of knives the fashion world was cleaved into while cowlick uber never intended to start a revolution destroy did exactly that for every critic and high couture designer mortified by the collection comme des Garcons found a convert the avant-garde and individualist sub society who flocked to the kokuboro anti fashion like the crows of their namesake the 1980s were a time of rapid expanse for comme des Garcons her first Parisian boutique opened in 1983 along with a store in new york by the late 1980s there were over 300 stores scattered across the globe a fourth of which was founded outside of japan in 1988 Kawakubo launched six a biannual magazine named after the sixth sense the magazine replaced their traditional catalog and concerned itself more with the stream-of-consciousness and surrealism than with fashion itself focusing less on words in favour of illustrations art and photography including shots from notable photographers Bruce Weber and Peter Lindbergh I think she communicate with the her collaborator I mean I call her stuff collaborators because she does not draft but on herself I mean she doesn't give you any detail on a close that what she wants rather actually her job is actually to communicate the feel of the of the correction despite her cultural background and the insistence of many fans Carriacou boy insists that her work has never been as an artist I have only continued all these years to try and make a business with creation I cannot separate being a designer from being a businesswoman it's one and the same thing for me she commands a near total control of her label from deciding on the sparse industrialist designs of her stores to the furnishings each one contains and even the way her employees are required to act and dress yet there have been times when kaua kuba concedes she is at the very least a businesswoman / artist artists role is to deny the reality it's not true this change is break it this is artists role so always have a [Music] there's a deeper question there's people that like rain Kawakubo of course everybody would have to admit that she's an artist indeed her creative process when envisioning a collection sounds less like a traditional designer and more like that of a conceptual artist although she goes to great lengths to avoid explaining herself occasionally coicou borer has divulged the methods that envelope her creativity my design process never starts or finishes I am always hoping to find something through the mere act of living my daily life often in each collection there are three or so seeds of things that come together accidentally to form what appears to everyone else as a final product but for me it is never-ending I employ a pattern cutter that who work or commander Yasin in Tokyo for more than 30 years and so so I am aware really because we talked about you know the high experience working in Tokyo I think array cover cover is a fear of Safa she communicates with certain words but quite minimum and just by those words think people work for her supposed to understand the feel of that what does not mean you know and then so so so the collection starts from there yeah say it I don't think I like it it's necessary for aircar capital to draw anything really because it is actually a philosophy that she is conveying and then stuff is making happen the dissimilarities between kara Kubo and her designer contemporaries extend beyond her creative process while other fashion moguls indulge in mansion hopping art collection and socializing with the celebrity elite Kohaku boy enjoys a quiet lifestyle dedicated to her work her only indulgences it seems her love for animals and her monstrous Mitsubishi car from the 1970s beyond this Carriacou bore leads a life of relative solitude few are close to her fewer still have been granted access to her home an apartment close to her business headquarters in the alley yama shopping district of tokyo even her husband comme des Garcons CEO adrienne Joffe lives separately from her running the international wing of their company from their headquarters in Paris Kohaku born Joffe became an item in the early 1990s after koa Kubo separated from former flame Yamamoto after a short courtship the couple married in 1992 Joffe has since become CEO and personal translator for his wife effectively handling any communique between calico boy and the outside world despite his integral position to the company no one especially not Joffe is under the illusion that comme des Garcons is anything less than the domain of kaua COBOL we really know the company that is in Spain kind of do iron saying we don't look at other people it's like really all comes from the designer comes out of her head and she basically made the company as a creative company my first creation second business always tried to do something that's very creative and very very new this is after all the woman who once famously declared her label for women who do not care what their husbands think kara kuba relaxed the reins of her company around the time of her marriage allowing other designers to put their own unique spin on calm to Garson style beginning with janya Watanabe in the early 1990s her stable now includes Tao Kurihara and more recently Kei Ninomiya who designed under the come to Garson umbrella through their own distinct sub labels Kawakubo allows her designers a strong sense of independence just as she herself appreciates and rarely sees their collections until just before the public unveiling in line with this koakuma founded fashion concept store Dover Street Market in 2004 DSM showcased her architectural flair an art space housing the clothing and accessories of comme des Garcons alongside a curated selection of innovative designers from London New York and Tokyo with pop-up collaborations and events it's six flagship store hit LA in 2018 adding to the pioneering spaces across London Paris New York Singapore and Tokyo comme des Garcons has unleashed over two dozen lines since its inception in 1973 even consenting to create easier to wear subsidiaries like the comme des Garcons comme des Garcons range they have collaborated with a host of diverse and established brands over the years including Lacoste Fred Perry Nike and those notables of Parisian high couture Louis Vuitton but those who believe the aggressively unique designer a softening in her old age may want to reconsider caua Kubo is still capable of causing controversy when she so chooses in fact she seems to relish it in 1995 the presentation of her men's collection sleep a series of baggy striped pajamas evocative of the prison uniforms worn in Auschwitz created outrage for all the wrong reasons the collection stamped with identification numbers on each garment and displayed by models with shave heads was unveiled on the 50th anniversary of the Holocaust it was an unintentional step too far for kaua kuba who discontinued the line and released an official apology for her blunder there would be no apologizing two years later however when the 1996 collection dress meets body was unveiled and Kara kuba shocked the world once more incensed by a gap window displaying banal black clothes a signature tone reduced to something incomprehensible generic Hakuba began experimenting with new forms of structure inserting basketball sized pads as a deformity intended to highlight the actual over the natural by adding these extensions Carriacou ball believed she could control the perception of reality making deformities seem as conventional as the gap blight that had inspired her designs critics of the collection were less than convinced declaring it as a perversion of design that conjured nothing other than the strange calico bo has always been unafraid to reject progress and convention even after embracing it when her 2011 collection white drama was too easily understood its cryptic title easily deconstructed by critics as a journey through the seminal events of life how a cool boy became despondent later declaring she does not feel happy when a collection is understood to well it is a desire for the unique that permeates every facet of her business in 2004 coicou bought together with Joffe and comme des Garcons were credited with originating the pop-up store trend introducing the label to cities around the globe for less than a year in any given location once the idea entered the mainstream calico Board announced the idea is tired and ceased producing pop-up stores a 2008 collaboration with H&M produce similar results despite its rampant popularity the collection produced a near-riot in Tokyo Kohaku boy is reluctant to travel the same path again going as far as to criticize the fashion industry outright I don't feel too excited about fashion today more fearful that people don't necessarily want or need strong new clothes that there are not enough of us believing in the same thing that there is a kind of burnout that people just want cheap fast clothes and are happy to look like everyone else that the flame of creation has gone a bit cold that enthusiasm and passionate anger for change and rattling the status quo is weakening yet the flame of creation as kaua Kubo elegantly puts it continues through the litany of high-profile designers she has influenced through her nearly five decades in fashion European converts like John Galliano Martin Margiela and Raph Simmons legendary designers enchanted by the anti fashion that cover Kubo dragged into the consciousness of Couture all those years ago having started come to Ghassan at age 27 Kawakubo now seventy-six shows no sign of slowing down the designer is still staging at every Paris Fashion Week presenting her unique brand of high-concept that translates into an estimated two hundred and eighty million dollars a year commercially it is a singular dedication to the work as she calls it that propels her in the present with little thought given to her posterity despite this that legacy was honored in the 2017 metic exhibition Rekha kuba comme des Garcons art of the in-between equivalent to the fashion world's Oscars this gala which is organized on behalf of the New York Costume Institute is only the second monographic exhibition on a living designer says the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 1983 exposition on eve-san Laura she really is the most important and influential designer the last 40 years so a lot of the aspects that we now take for granted and fashion like notions of asymmetry the idea of young finish you know raw raw seams unfinished edges were pioneered by Ray in the last 40 years so in a way she's changed the course of fashion history so I thought it was cause to celebrate her Ray's known for a very stark monochromatic color palette and like ray is your favorite designers favorite designer I mean like herb abstract way of thinking just continues to influence so many brands an eight and it's four or five years later they'll do something that she's done curated by Andrew Bolton and assisted by Kawakubo the exhibition features a hundred and fifty garments that span the brand's archives since the 1980s split into nine spaces and blocked by color it explores the timeless fluidity of the designers work which also manages to escape definition with the only text presented as dichotomies across the nine themes absence versus presence design against not design and so on exploring the art of creation and recreation revolutionized by Kara kuba as difficult as it becomes in the modern era of fashion when so many have injected themselves into the medium with the same deconstructionist aesthetic coicou boy impart inspired her aspirations to push the boundaries of fashion continue to delight and offend in equal measure Kalwa kuba wouldn't want it any other way [Music] [Music] [Music] be [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Fashion Industry Broadcast

Views: 422,414

Keywords: Rei Kawakubo, Comme Des Garcons, Kawakubo, Joffe, H&M, akira isogawa, RENEGADES OF FASHION, FASHION FILMS, FASHION DESIGNERS, FASHION DOCUMENTARIES, NETFLIX, AVANT GARDE FASHION, JAPANESE DESIGNER, DESIGNER FASHION

Id: fHayspt14_c

Length: 30min 14sec (1814 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 06 2019