A closer look at the Comme des Garçons installation at the Independent Art Fair.
Surreal steel, raw geometry, and some of the most cerebral Comme des Garçons looks ever assembled in one place! This year’s Independent Art Fair greeted visitors with a statement that challenged everything you ever knew about fashion and art. Rather than a painting, video animation, or piece of performance art, the centerpiece of what is now considered one of New York’s most exciting art fairs was indeed, fashion.
Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo personally chose 20 different looks from the past few years and housed them in an immersive rebar installation, fitted with colorful yellow sculptural joints that popped. Inside, dramatic poufs of fabric served as the kind of jolting, mind-bending provocation an art fair needs to address fashion on a deeper level. Each look was available for purchase, with prices reportedly ranging from $9,000 – $30,000. Interestingly, Kawakubo has always stated that her work is not art, but in the past decade it has been increasingly categorized as such. Take, for instance, the 2017 Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons Art of the In-Between exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Fashion is not art. You sell art to one person. Fashion comes in a series and it is a more social phenomenon,” Kawakubo reportedly said in 1998. Even if she rejects the concept of being an artist, there’s no arguing the fact that her work certainly transcends the concept of clothing. Elizabeth Dee, founder and creative director of Independent, clearly embraces the rebellious spirit in her work, and Kawakubo’s pieces, particularly of the last five years, seem to fit the fair’s mission perfectly.
One oversized red and white tulle confection had the effect of blood droplets and the shape was so obviously abstract, it could as well have been a living, wearable sculpture. Another outsize dress was covered in prints of antique doll-like faces, ruffled and subverted and topped off with a big blue bow harness. A monumental, white tubular gown covered in huge polka dots and bows had the kind of sentimental feeling and deep, dark, quirky femininity that we so often love to see from the mind of Kawakubo. Many associate the brand with striking, inky black hues in twisted, unconventional shapes. But surprisingly, there was no shortage of color in this installation. Think: tropical pink, mandarin orange and lime green florals, neon green bows, red polka dots, neon pink flowers, and shocks of blindingly bright red and yellow.
All of the looks on view were straight from the Comme des Garçons runway shows. It’s not often you get to see these looks up close. They are sparingly produced–usually sold only at the Comme des Garçons and Dover Street Market shops, aside from a few rare boutique shops that can get their hands on them. These pieces usually have to be special ordered and are rarely worn out in the real world, save for a few exceptional rare birds like Michelle Elie.
Kawakubo has spent over 50 years making clothes that refuse to behave. That the art world has finally caught up is less a coronation than an admission that she was always working in their language.
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