Go Inside 3 Amazing Comme des Garçons Collections
Photo: New York Magazine
Comme des Garçons collectors are a tribe of sorts, who can confidently reference the colloquial names for past collections (“Lumps and Bumps,” et cetera) and who preserve their treasures with the precision of museum curators. Even the most devoted sneakerheads have nothing on these women.
As the Met Costume Institute prepares its retrospective on Rei Kawakubo, we spoke to three collectors — former press attachés Marion Greenberg and Miki Higasa, and Danielle Chung, a longtime collector and former Greenberg employee — about the stories behind some of their most closely guarded pieces. Click through the slideshow for a window into their troves.
Danielle Chung "The clothes were flat yet sculptural at the same time — paper-doll dress-up but in 3-D. In black, you mostly just see the sh...
Danielle Chung "The clothes were flat yet sculptural at the same time — paper-doll dress-up but in 3-D. In black, you mostly just see the shape, which is what I love about this coat. When I wear the coat, I become the paper doll."
Photo: New York Magazine
Danielle "I love the juxtaposition of the heavy top and airy bottom of this dress. It’s unexpected. I like the feeling of being covered up w...
Danielle "I love the juxtaposition of the heavy top and airy bottom of this dress. It’s unexpected. I like the feeling of being covered up without feeling confined."
Photo: New York Magazine
Danielle "I believe this dress explores dressmaking down to its essence. The dress looks as though a big piece of fabric was ripped and then...
Danielle "I believe this dress explores dressmaking down to its essence. The dress looks as though a big piece of fabric was ripped and then tied to form the shape. Comme des Garçons always gives me a different perspective of how clothes can be constructed and also challenges the norms of beauty." Photo: New York Magazine
Danielle "I appreciate that at first you’re not quite sure what is creating the volume and texture of this sweater and then you discover tha...
Danielle "I appreciate that at first you’re not quite sure what is creating the volume and texture of this sweater and then you discover that there are a bunch of knitted flowers sewn onto a simple V-neck top. You would think a garment made with hundreds of little flowers would be very sweet and frilly, but it is far from it."
Photo: New York Magazine
Danielle "This skirt was a five-year wedding anniversary present from my husband, in 1997. Some people receive jewelry, but for me, these cl...
Danielle "This skirt was a five-year wedding anniversary present from my husband, in 1997. Some people receive jewelry, but for me, these clothes are my jewelry. You don’t really need anything else other than a top and a pair of shoes with this skirt."
Photo: New York Magazine
Danielle "I bought this dress in the spring of 1988, the year I graduated from college. Almost 30 years later, I still love it as much as I ...
Danielle "I bought this dress in the spring of 1988, the year I graduated from college. Almost 30 years later, I still love it as much as I did back then and still wear it. Every time I wear this dress I am complimented and people cannot believe the timelessness of it. I plan on giving this dress along with all of my other Comme des Garçons pieces to my daughter. I have kept all of them to give to her one day, and my hope is she will enjoy wearing them as much I have and appreciate that all of these clothes were created by a true visionary." Photo: New York Magazine
Marion Greenberg "Everything looked one way and then here was this other point of view, and I thought it was very exciting. It was kind of r...
Marion Greenberg "Everything looked one way and then here was this other point of view, and I thought it was very exciting. It was kind of revolutionary."
Photo: New York Magazine
Marion This twisted-fabric coat, circa 1982, was one of the first pieces Greenberg ever bought from the line. "When you compare it to what w...
Marion This twisted-fabric coat, circa 1982, was one of the first pieces Greenberg ever bought from the line. "When you compare it to what was on the market then, there were big shoulders and the clothes were gaudy and they were very decorated."
Photo: New York Magazine
Marion This navy jacket is from the spring 1997 Body Meets Dress — Dress Meets Body collection. "It doesn’t have the padding" used in s...
Marion This navy jacket is from the spring 1997 Body Meets Dress — Dress Meets Body collection. "It doesn’t have the padding" used in some of the more famous pieces from that season, "but because of the nature of the fabric, which is a stiff polyester, you can see a form."
Photo: New York Magazine
Marion Greenberg believes this silk faille dress, which came with matching pants, is from the radical and presicent Transcending Gender collectio...
Marion Greenberg believes this silk faille dress, which came with matching pants, is from the radical and presicent Transcending Gender collection for spring 1995, which explored genderless dressing.
Photo: New York Magazine
Miki Higasa "This piece was from the spring 1997 Body Meets Dress — Dress Meets Body collection, and I may have only worn it a few times. Fr...
Miki Higasa "This piece was from the spring 1997 Body Meets Dress — Dress Meets Body collection, and I may have only worn it a few times. From my personal perspective, the reccurring theme with all of her creations was the examination of the notion and concept of beauty or preconceived notions of what had become ‘acceptable’ to society. Prior to this collection, I thought that this philosophy was visually executed in a (thought-provoking and complex but) less obvious way. But that message in this particular collection was asserted in a very indisputable manner.
That same year, Rei was asked to create the costumes for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. While Mr. Cunningham and his dancers typically rehearsed and choreographed sans costume (nor music, I learned when we worked with them), as soon as Mr. Cunningham saw the pieces, he immediately put them on the dancers. To witness how the choreography developed and evolved along with Rei’s pieces was a sensational experience. When this piece, which was called Scenario, premiered at the Paris Opera, it received a standing ovation — a rarity at the Paris Opera, I was later told." Photo: New York Magazine
Miki "Also from the Body Meets Dress collection. I simply loved the texture, and back then, like many of us Comme des Garçons girls, ...
Miki "Also from the Body Meets Dress collection. I simply loved the texture, and back then, like many of us Comme des Garçons girls, I mostly wore black, but in the summer I liked wearing white." Photo: New York Magazine
Miki "This piece was from the SS '96 Kaleidoscope collection. The silhouette itself is very classic Comme des Garçons, and I loved th...
Miki "This piece was from the SS '96 Kaleidoscope collection. The silhouette itself is very classic Comme des Garçons, and I loved the texture and the look of this bonded material made of foam and georgette." Photo: New York Magazine
Miki "This skirt is made of embroidered plastic. I loved the pattern of the embroidery. My friends and colleagues would make fun of me, and ...
Miki "This skirt is made of embroidered plastic. I loved the pattern of the embroidery. My friends and colleagues would make fun of me, and call it the ‘shower curtain’ skirt, but that did not deter me from wearing it at all!"
Photo: New York Magazine
Miki A close-up of the skirt. Photo: New York Magazine
Miki "This skirt was from the Body Meets Dress collection. What was amazing about this collection was the fabric development. This particula...
Miki "This skirt was from the Body Meets Dress collection. What was amazing about this collection was the fabric development. This particular piece did not have the ‘bumps’ in it, but the fabric, which was a stretch organdy, had to be super, super elastic. It's still in great condition, even after being worn many times and after all these years."
Photo: New York Magazine
Miki "From the fall 2001 Beyond Taboo collection. Techniques and details often seen in undergarments, such as bras, corseting, bloomers were...
Miki "From the fall 2001 Beyond Taboo collection. Techniques and details often seen in undergarments, such as bras, corseting, bloomers were used and designed with a combination of both heavier, stiffer fabrics like wool suiting, tweed, velvet, and softer fabrics like satin, organdy, and lace. I just loved the three-dimensionality of this piece, and the construction was impeccable. I often wore this with a simple white shirt and black trousers."
Photo: New York Magazine
Miki "This was from the fall 1998 Fusion collection, but in my mind it was the Inside-Out collection because it was about showing the beauty...
Miki "This was from the fall 1998 Fusion collection, but in my mind it was the Inside-Out collection because it was about showing the beauty in not only the construction of garments but the beauty in the actual inner workings of tailoring. So the horsehair was used on the outside, and the ‘corseting’-like feature was on the outside."
Photo: New York Magazine
Miki "A full show look from the fall 1996 Flowering Clothes collection, but in a different colorway. This show was one of the first times Re...
Miki "A full show look from the fall 1996 Flowering Clothes collection, but in a different colorway. This show was one of the first times Rei showed in a square setting (at the Museum of Oceanic and African Art). Instead of walking steadily around the perimeter of the square, we asked the models to walk up to a side or a corner within the square and face the audience and pause and sometimes turn and walk again to another spot, face the audience and turn until they ‘covered’ all four sides or four corners of the square. There was also no music for this one. It was a very powerful show, just as the clothes were."
Photo: New York Magazine
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