Our final S/S13 Fashion Equation focuses on Rei Kawakubo's womenswear offering for Comme des Garçons, bringing to mind crushed cans, regal crowns...
Laura Bradley is the Commissioning Editor of AnOther and published her first series of Fashion Equations in May 2008. Tom Baxter is an illustrator currently living and working in London.
Whilst British summer has hardly begun, retailers are currently celebrating the end of the spring/summer season. Our final S/S13 Fashion Equation focuses on Rei Kawakubo's womenswear offering for Comme des Garçons, bringing to mind crushed cans, regal crowns and girl of the moment, Khaleesi, from Game of Thrones.
Of course, Kawakubo never offers up much backstage, preferring the collection to speak for itself. "Crushing. The energy of an explosion," was her summisation for journalists. Young British artist Graham Hudson, who has previously created retail installations for the brand, created towering scrap-metal crowns. Hudson, who has become known for his work with everyday, found materials, chose to meld paint cans, wing mirrors, aluminium food packaging, crushed cans, brass brackets and broken toy cars for the modern Comme des Garçons queens.
"The white, angelic tones certainly point to the Game of Thrones character Talisa, the healer known for her long white hair and porcelain complexion"
The head has always been an important focus point for Kawakubo, and often the opportunity for her to demonstrate interesting collaborations with artists of her choice, including Gary Card and Katsuya Kamo. A look through the archive shows tinfoil shrouded heads (A/W93), candy-floss whips (S/S96), delicate flowers (A/W05) and Mini Mouse ears (A/W07). The crown made an appearance in Kawakubo's spring/summer 2006, accompanying punkish tartans and Union Jack printed underwear. This time, it was a much more sombre affair, with the colour palette restricted to white/black/gold, with a flash of regal velvets in the closing looks. The garments themselves, reminscient of hanging pattern pieces in a design studio.
The white, angelic tones certainly point to the Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen (Khaleesi), the exiled princess known for her long white hair and porcelain complexion. Whilst Kawakubo doesn't explicitily refer to her as inspiration, it's fun to think of her settling down to catch up on the American fantasy drama series. And it's not the first time she has nodded to cult females – for A/W08, the collection made various references to the style of the late singer Amy Winehouse.
The Dover Street Market sale, including S/S13 Comme des Garcons, in on now. Watch our behind-the-scenes film of Fashion Equation illustrator Tom Baxter, created in collaboration with Justcompositions...
