Looking Back In Time: Comme des Garçons Fall 2014 Ready-To-Wear

by Taraneh Azar, Runway Correspondent

From the perspective held in 2019, we should look back on Rei Kawakubo’s February 2014 Paris Fashion Week collection, where the line between sculpture and garment blended seamlessly in classic Comme des Garçons form. 

Kawakubo pushes the frontier of artistic form with each new collection while also drawing upon and maintaining the rich traditions of her distinct style and process. Therefore, a retrospective look at past collections is always timely, especially in 2019 as social media and cultural leanings continue to widen the scope and influence of each house and distinct style of craft. Looking back at rich traditions nod to the inspirations drawn with each new collection as past and present converge, even indicating what is to come. 

Kawakubo has been long hailed an artist, able to incorporate outlandish and repulsing forms with traditionally feminine cuts in remarkable and controversial manners. The house has been rejecting the boundaries of gender since it was founded in 1973, and over time baggy, avant-garde cuts have evolved into “lumps and bumps” such as those showcased in her iconic Spring 1997 collection. 

Over the years, this sculptural, ceremonial, almost performance-based method of garment presentation has evolved with – and against – the masses. 

The Fall 2014 collection opens with a gigantic, neutral blazer that extends well past the hands, layered layered over a knit dress. At first glance, one would think Kawakubo was paying homage to David Byrne as the garment is closely reminiscent of his iconic “Stop Making Sense” uniform, most closely described as an enormous suit.

However, nothing suggests that the Talking Heads were in mind in Kawakubo’s creation, but rather a mild introduction to the collection as functionality takes the backseat and the obscure, impractical and monstrous reign. 

The theme of the collection was Monster. In Kawakubo’s own words: “It's not about the typical Monster you find in sci-fi and video games. . . The craziness of humanity, the fear we all have, the feeling of going beyond common sense, the absence of ordinariness, expressed by something extremely big, by something that could be ugly or beautiful. In other words, I wanted to question the established standards of beauty."

Indeed, such a rejection and the redrawing of boundaries appear again and again throughout the collection; each look is more obscure, more sculptural than the last. 

The blazer-over-knit opening look is followed by another oversized blazer. This one, however, is layered under a lumpy harness of stuffed knit. The model’s hands are restrained, easing the audience into what is to come. 

Each look becomes progressively more obscure. Giant, lumpy, earth-toned protrusions are followed by looks which appear to mimic an excess of limbs, engulfing models and obscuring their vision.

A funnel-like poncho is followed by shorts and a cropped sweater. Sleeves fastened with  knotted extensions of fabrics sweep the runway.

Giant mounds of jumbled, stuffed fabrics constitute jackets as extra sleeves create tubular, growth-like drapings, right in line with the monstrous intention of the collection. Most looks are layered over patterned tights – a play off of fishnet but more like a cable-knit sweater in traditional Kawakubo style.

The collection is set in muted earth tones: gray, black, brown, navy blue and beige dot the lineup, broken only by the neon lipstick sported by each and every model. Hairstyles are reminiscent of a sloppy Victorian wig, like Ben Franklin was going through a punk phase. 

The presentation escalates to one look almost resembling a burka as the model’s face is enveloped within a giant fabric lump.

Then the collection reaches its pinnacle. One model’s entire face and body are covered by the garment except for an oval cutout exposing a portion of the chest area; the following wears a full sculptural ceremonial ensemble where the human form is obscured and altered into a cloaked being, likeness transformed.

This look is perhaps one of Kawakubo’s most iconic as it is so obscure, so ridiculous and monstrous, yet so beautiful and ceremonial. The model’s vision is entirely obscured, swallowed by the chunky knit stack of flowing fabrics and knotted wool. The feeling is like that of a wedding procession with a bride wandering to her death – chilling, mysterious yet breathtakingly beautiful.

More sculptural elements follow – what appears to be a hoodie until further inspection as chunky, knotted fabric creates a mound around the model’s head, a form entirely foreign to most onlookers. Braided and twisted garments provide a foil to the ceremonial and ethereal floor-sweeping dresses stuffed like duvet covers that follow. Some looks appear to have been crafted out of rejected sweatshirts picked up from a local Goodwill, while others appear to be made with the Met in mind.

The show concludes with a model wearing a tutu-like flared skirt floats down the runway donning a knotted shirt that extends over her hair, doubling as a headpiece. Beauty and the traditions of femininity are thus juxtaposed with the deformation of lumps, with limbs and protruding nodules.

Kawakubo’s February 2014 collection remains one of the most impressive presentations of the director’s genius. With each show undisputedly more spectacular than the last, a look back at the evolution of Comme des Garçons nods to what is to come and the traditions drawn upon as each year passes. 

LOOKS FROM THE RUNWAY