Comme des Garcons: Fashion’s Crucible for Greatness

In every discipline there are particular institutions regarded as breeding grounds for exceptional practitioners of said discipline. Fashion is no different, with the likes of Tokyo’s Bunka Fashion College, London’s Central Saint Martins or Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts, just to name a few. However, many underrate a brand’s power to shape talent into forces in the fashion world. I would argue that no other modern brand exemplifies this phenomenon better than the Japanese giant that is Comme des Garcons and its connections to three of the most important designers working today.

Comme des Garcons and their founder and leader to this day, Rei Kawakubo, made waves in the fashion industry when it presented its first Paris runway show in 1981. Her penchant for heavy use of the color black, rough finishing, and de-glamorization of models angered many critics because it was the antithesis of high fashion at the time. But her designs would prove to be generative for designers spearheading the rise of the ensuing anti-fashion movement, who would in turn set the stage for modern high fashion as we know it.

Over the next few decades, Kawakubo would continue to innovate and build Comme des Garcons into a powerful force in the fashion industry, on par with already-established fashion houses. This is evident by the ubiquity it has achieved via the Comme des Garcons PLAY diffusion line and the rise in influence of its Dover Street Market department stores, which Kawakubo personally oversees. With the rise of Comme des Garcons came the rise of the legend of Rei Kawakubo, perpetuated by her enigmatic personality and notorious elusiveness. But despite her public persona, Rei Kawakubo is very welcoming to young talent when she sees it. In fact, Comme des Garcons would prove to be instrumental in the careers of three of the most talented designers working today.

JUNYA WATANABE

Shortly after graduating the aforementioned Bunka Fashion College in 1984, a young Watanabe began his career in fashion as a pattern cutter and apprentice pattern maker at Comme des Garcons. The talent which had distinguished himself at Bunka was immediately noticed by Rei Kawakubo. In a few short years she made him her official protege and director of Comme des Garcons’ knitwear diffusion line, Tricot.

It was shortly thereafter in 1992 that Kawakubo allowed Watanabe to start his own label under the Comme des Garcons banner; Junya Watanabe Comme des Garcons.This is something no one had achieved up until that point. And over the next 20-plus years, Watanabe would cement himself as one of the most prolific and consistent creative forces in fashion, with his thoughtful twists on classic silhouettes and reinventions of basics. This is apparent in longstanding and ongoing collaborations with Levi’s.

Pieces from these collections are revered, both as staples by stylists and as grails by archive fashion enthusiasts. They represent everything Watanabe is about: adapting what is tried and true to elevated and culturally diverse sensibilities, and ultimately creating something wholly unique. In doing so, he has also created something which diverges from mainline Comme des Garcons, as it uses convention to its advantage rather than being an affront to it.

CHITOSE ABE

Over the past year or so the brand Sacai has become quickly ubiquitous in the world of streetwear, due chiefly to an ongoing and acclaimed collaboration with Nike. However, many don't know much more about the brand or its founder, Chitose Abe. This is really a shame, as the Nike collaboration was simply an affirmation of Sacai's arrival in the fashion world as a force to be reckoned with. And it all started with Abe’s relationship with Comme des Garcons.

Much like Junya Watanabe, Abe started out at Comme as a pattern cutter for Rei Kawakubo. Also coincidentally, she eventually became a lead designer for Junya Watanabe’s label. However, she left Comme des Garcons after eight years to become a stay-at-home mother. But the settled down role of motherhood left her with no creative outlet. Her time at Comme des Garcons honed her skills and gave her all the experience needed to start her own brand, and her husband supported the venture. And so Sacai was born in 1999.

Abe chose to grow Sacai at her own pace. For the first few years of the brand's existence, it was a small operation with a pared-down selection. But from there she built the brand up, and it quickly became an in-vogue sleeper hit in Japan, with its exquisite tailoring and exclusive fabrics. These would prove to be some of the defining hallmarks of Sacai. This steady rise caught the attention of high-end fashion retailers in the West. In 2009, Sacai began exhibiting in showrooms in Paris, which continued for two years before moving up to the runway. Eventually, high-profile collaborations (such as the one with Nike) let the cat out of the bag, so to speak. But that does not take away from Sacai’s signature charm, with its offbeat yet understated aesthetic.

JUN TAKAHASHI

Unlike the designers previously mentioned, Jun Takahashi didn’t cross paths with Comme des Garcons through direct employment. Rather, Rei Kawakubo became one of the first people to buy pieces from Undercover’s runway collection in 1994. Eventually, their business relationship turned into a creative one as Kawakubo took Takahashi under her wing.

Under the tutelage of Kawakubo, Takahashi would refine his designs and evolve Undercover as a brand. It was then under her guidance that Undercover made its first appearance at Paris Fashion Week in 2002. From there, Takahsashi would go on to create some of the most revered collections in fashion, which he continues to do to this day. Once a champion of Vivienne Westwood and Malcom McLaren, Takahashi now cites Rei Kawakubo as one of his greatest creative influences.

These three designers are a testament to the success one can achieve by going through a contemporary avenue. Many still have the idea that the only way to make it in fashion is by passing through the hallowed halls of a prestigious fashion school, or through experience at a long-established European fashion house. But as a 50-year old entity who deeply cares about what is relevant, Comme des Garcons has become all of that wrapped up into one.