Rei Kawakubo redefines men’s suits with radical designs at Paris Fashion Week
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
PARIS (AP) — Rei Kawakubo, the ever-restless force behind Comme des Garçons, delivered a characteristically unpredictable twist on men’s tailoring, dismantling the traditional suit and remaking it in her own radical image.
Titled “Not Suits, But Suits,” the Paris Fashion Week show had models striding through a packed, overheated concrete venue Friday evening in looks that both nodded to and defied the idea of formalwear.
Classic suit elements, jackets, lapels, pressed trousers, were reimagined with sharp, architectural interventions: bulging hips, layered or panniered silhouettes, and unexpected splashes of color.
Some jackets appeared as if spliced apart and reassembled, while skinny pants revealed hidden panels and bursts of pattern through carefully placed zippers.
Layering abounded, with cropped jackets stacked over pleated shirting, kilts and shorts. Knitwear was shredded and reconstructed, echoing a sense of disorder within the tailored frame. Accessories pushed the eccentricity further — models wore oversized, multi-brimmed caps crafted from suiting fabrics, paired with long braided wigs and formal shoes.
The collection evoked the need for something transformative in unsettled times. Its atmosphere only heightened the collection’s message: in Kawakubo’s world, the suit is not a uniform of conformity but a canvas for disruption.
As guests spilled out into the night, applause rang out for a designer who continues to turn fashion’s certainties inside out.