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Ensemble

Design House (a–d) Comme des Garçons Japanese
Designer Rei Kawakubo Japanese
Designer (e) Stephen Jones British
fall/winter 2007–8
Not on view
Rei Kawakubo's fall/winter 2007-8 collection adopted the surrealist strategies of unexpected distortions of scale and uncanny displacements. The ambience was set for a show of sweetness and innocence, accessorized with Minnie Mouse hats and padded decorations like those seen on a baby pillow or a lingerie bag.

But, as it is Commes des Garçons, the childlike flourishes of little-girl dresses appliquéd on the front of longer garments had a destabilizing effect. Like Alice's disorientation in Wonderland, the viewer at a Commes des Garçons presentation is left feeling that first impressions are never valid, for even an apparent prettiness can mask deeper, subliminal complexities. When the series of ensembles with padded hand motifs appeared, the ostensible playfulness of the gesture paradoxically precipitated the kind of momentary disquiet that a Schiaparelli/Dalí collaboration has never provoked.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ensemble
  • Design House: (a–d) Comme des Garçons (Japanese, founded 1969)
  • Designer: Rei Kawakubo (Japanese, born 1942)
  • Designer: (e) Stephen Jones (British, born 1957)
  • Date: fall/winter 2007–8
  • Culture: Japanese
  • Medium: (a, b) synthetic, (c, d) leather, (e) silk, synthetic
  • Credit Line: Gift of Comme des Garcons, 2007
  • Object Number: 2007.382.1a–e
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

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