On the topic of influential fashion, it seems almost impossible to not include Comme des Garçons as an example of a brand that thinks so far outside the box, the box looks really small from the distance.

Few brands have the ability to constantly make fast forward fashion, spin out of control without losing control, quite in the same way as the Japanese brand that recently celebrated 40 years - and counting - in the fashion game. Responsible for the inventiveness, the unstoppable forwardism, stands Rei Kawakubo, the person we can thank for raising the bar of modern fashion.

Reciting her CV would quickly turn into an endless rant. A rant about Comme des Garçons guerrilla stores around the world, about unisex perfumes smelling like cities (and tar!), mind-blowing aesthetics and so many collaborations ones mouth would quickly turn dry. It would include the success story about the London warehouse Dover Street Market that looks like no other department store, multiple unique collections, Junya Watanabe as an employee and the list goes on. To keep it short, one could simply state that Rei Kawakubo started a revolution when she changed the way we look at clothes and many years later, she keeps on doing it. Read more

In 1997 she sent hunchbacks down the catwalk. The presentation of lumpy deformations growing out of the clothes were no doubt radical in the fashion scene. Her avant-garde shapes were far from the traditional wear commonly used to rest eyes on.

Comme des Garçons serves fashion that is about never standing still, not even for the slightest second. It is about running the marathon, effortlessly taking the lead. And leading a marathon automatically means being followed by others. When Marc Jacobs was accused of copying CDG for his SS08 collection he defended himself to Women’s Wear Daily by simply saying: “Jil Sander is influenced by Comme des Garçons, Miuccia Prada is influenced by Comme des Garçons, everyone is influenced by Comme des Garçons.”

One of the most significant things about the brand is that the clothes never appear slaves of their decades. Pick a random collection from the nineties and you will be astounded of how modern the clothes appear today. No need for wrinkled noses in disgust of a lost fashion time - Comme des Garçons is always equipped with blinkers, setting the trends as opposed to following them.

Part of the fascination of Comme des Garcons is the lack of predictability. There is always coverage for the excitement present before a fashion show. Comme des Garçons make bondage funny, romance dull, goth pretty and surprises mandatory. And most importantly: it has to be fun. Mask like makeup, logo heart splattered over clean white shirts, dresses giving birth to suit jackets – Kawakubo knows that high fashion and play can be best, best mates.

Written by Très Bien Shop