Comme des Garçons doesn't expect you to wear their designs

Comme des Garçons doesn't expect you to wear their designs. (Pic: Washington Post)

Comme des Garçons doesn't expect you to wear their designs. (Pic: Washington Post)

Published Mar 9, 2018

Share

Paris - The point of Comme des Garçons' Rei Kawakubo designs is creativity. Creativity set free from any boundaries beyond the material itself. Let's be clear: Kawakubo does not expect anyone to place a golden minaret on their head and go out into the world wearing a pixelated Betty Boop sweater exploding with layers of cotton, padding and lace

You got that? She. Does. Not. Expect. You. To. Wear. This.

For fall 2018, Kawakubo was intrigued by the idea of "camp" - not the cabin-in-the-woods variety but the aesthetic sensibility that finds something appealing in bad taste and irony. How far does something have to go before it's perceived as camp? Is there a limit to what fits into the definition?

Can something once considered camp move into the realm of good taste? And ultimately, what exactly is good taste?

What was once considered to be in good taste - bouffants, blue hair, circle skirts and marabou-adorned mules - now reads as camp. Sneakers with your suit? Once camp. Now cool. (Sneakers with flesh tone pantyhose and a boxy C-Span-ready suit? Not cool.)

CDG CAMP. @juliendys

A post shared by Comme des Garcons(@commedesgarcons) on Mar 3, 2018 at 11:08am PST

At Comme des Garçons, there is an opportunity to, perhaps, peer into the future. Or at the least, get a sense of the direction in which the aesthetic winds are blowing.

(c) 2018, The Washington Post

Related Topics: