From a need and a reflection by Rei Kawakubo on the fusion of information in our days comes “Landscape of Shadows”, the Fall/Winter 2021 women’s collection by Comme des Garçons.
Rei Kawakubo took a break from the overflow of information, colours and all other miscellaneous things, and delivered with a fantastical, entirely black-and-white collection of voluminous frocks that looked like they had stepped out of the pages of a twisted fairy tale.
“Amidst the incessant overflowing of miscellaneous things, the deluge of color, the flooding of sound and the inundation of information… I needed to take one breath in the monochrome serenity”, Kawakubo offered in an accompanying press release.
Kawakubo’s idea of serenity was realized by checkered and polka dot leggings, ruffles everywhere, exaggerated overcoats, masses of tulle, and top hats that are either extremely long or extremely distressed. The exaggerated shapes are a return to form for Kawakubo, who briefly tinkered with reigned-in shapes in seasons past, but has spent recent shows expanding silhouettes to dramatic effect.
A range of quirky top hats that Kawakubo created together with stylist and editor-in-chief of Dazed Ibrahim Kamara who has never designed hats before, as well as heeled Nike sneakers and Salomon trail runners, rounded out the offering.