CITY Issue 59

CITY LIFE / IN ROGUE BY ELYSSA DIMANT MORE, MORE, MORE Rei Kawakubo’s maximalist designs incorporate the convergences and contradictions of our continuously shrinking world COMME DES GARÇONS S ituated on the Yamanote line in the Shibuya wa d of Tokyo, Ha ajuku station stands at the conve gence of two noto ious st eets. Omotesando, a t ee-lined esplanade, has been dubbed the Japanese Champs-Élysées fo its inﬂux of luxu y boutiques, and Takeshita teams with tou ists and teenage fashionistas bumping past each othe to inﬁ lt ate countless punkish haunts and subve sive style destinations. The dichotomy of Ha ajuku, an imp essive inte play between cute and seve e, efined and t ashy — eﬀectively, high and low — speaks to the lifeblood of Japanese style, if not the spi it of contempo a y fashion as a whole. The egion can ba ely contain the complexities within its pe imete s, and the wonde ment of its many discove ies is t umped only by a delicious dis ega d fo the o igins of its dive gent components. Some weeks ago, I sat down to ponde the mythical pe sona of the Japanese fashion visiona y Rei Kawakubo — the sec ecy of he p ocess unfolding inside the sta k walls of a Tokyo wa ehouse; the obsessive d ive to cont ol eve y detail of he c eative p esentation, ight down to the p ecise spaces between each hange in eve y boutique; he enigmatic ph ases, such as “Red is the new Black,” meant to puzzle those hoping to ext act meaning f om he magpie ensembles. These a e the legends of Rei, the sto ies that one fashion student elays to anothe as they ma vel at the oddities and jewels bi thed by the nea ly -yea -old Comme des Ga çons (“like some boys”) b and. The conclusion I’ve come to is this: Rei and Ha ajuku a e the same, both p og ammed fo a visce al jou ney in which subtext and symbolism a e o en th own to the dogs. F om a bustling co ne of the ea th, the e they each sit, dissecting and sculpting, satu ating and diluting, molding f esh new styles f om a million muses. While Londone s John Galliano and lexande Mc ueen 50 enginee cultu al and histo ical fusions as gallant nods to “this phenomenon” o “that evolution,” Kawakubo has managed to stay above the f ay, posing questions that she’ll likely neve answe . Fo Rei, the clothes a e enough, and the only message seems to be mo e, mo e, mo e. The thing is, Kawakubo began with a qui ky so t of minimalism. s Chanel loved he suit, laia his contou ed knit, and Gaultie his co set, so too did Rei ado e he to tu ed black fo ms, dubbed “fune a y” fo thei hobo laye ing and bleak palette. He Lace collection championed expe iments in eduction and exposu e, whe e gaping deconst uctions punctu ed the inna ds of othe wise fo tiﬁed knitwea . dmittedly inspi ed by the sta k st uctu es of mode nist a chitects Le Co busie and Tadeo ndo, Kawakubo seemed unlikely to st ay f om the da k, unde stated geometics fo which she had become celeb ated. But by , the classic Comme blacks began bleeding acid g eens and lemon yellows, and auste e d esses bi thed pastiches of c azy quilts, Indian paisleys, and Renaissance jacqua ds. The sp ing collection that yea billed the kaleidoscope as its focal inspiation — an apt metapho fo Rei’s f agmenting pe ceptions of he own visual identity. Kawakubo’s collections may boast bold statements, but they a ely explain them away. n autumn catwalk audience ce tainly ead Kie kegaa d’s “The majo ity is always w ong” emb oide y as a lesson in secula philosophy when a ﬁ nale shawl was punctuated by a la ge blackened c oss. Fo fall , Rei’s signatu e black eappea ed as Victo ian-e a leg-o-mutton CITY TY

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CITY Issue 59

CITY Issue 59 Contents Have You Heard? Our Friends Action Wanted City Moment Diary Temporary Contemporary In Rogue The Amused Bouche Fast Food Tara Subkoff Alvarourbano Hardy Blachman Javier Peres Cult Classic Dream Jewels London Calling Argentina Good Airs Mission from God Your Place, and Mine One City, Many Destinations I'm Good, I'm Gone. 7 Hour Overdrive Where to Buy It Cityscape

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