Comme des Garçons

Comme des Garçons

Type	Private Company
Industry	Fashion
Founded	1969
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Rei Kawakubo, founder and designer Junya Watanabe Tao Kurihara Adrian Joffe
Products	Apparel, Accessories and Perfumes
Net income	US $180 million (2007)
Employees	200 est. (2007)
Website	www.doverstreetmarket.com www.comme-des-garcons-parfum.com www.comme-des-garcons.com

Comme des Garçons, written コム・デ・ギャルソン (Komu de Gyaruson) in Japanese and French for "Like Boys," is a Japanese fashion label headed by Rei Kawakubo, who owns the company with her husband Adrian Joffe.

Comme des Garçons is based in Tokyo and in the prestigious Place Vendôme in Paris, the city in which they show their main collections during Paris Fashion Week and Paris Men's Fashion Week. Each year, the company grosses in the region of $180 million.

Their Japanese flagship store is in Aoyama, Tokyo's high fashion district, they also have concept stores Trading Museum Comme des Garçons and 10 Corso Como Comme des Garçons in Tokyo and stores in Kyoto, Osaka and Fukuoka. Worldwide the have traditional Comme des Garçons stores in Rue du Faubourg St-Honoré in Paris, W22nd Street in New York as well as stores in Hong Kong, Beijing, Bangkok, Seoul and Singapore.

Since 2004 Comme des Garçons have developed a market based department store concept, stocking their main collections, their other brands, such as Shirt and Play and a wide range of international designers, their original market store called Dover Street Market is in Mayfair in London. In 2010 they opened I.T Beijing Market Comme des Garçons which will be followed by a new market store in Ginza, Tokyo in 2011.

History

The label was started in Tokyo by Rei Kawakubo in 1969^[1] and established as a company in Japan in 1973. Comme des Garçons became successful in Japan in the 1970s; a men's line was added in 1978. The year 1981 saw Comme des Garçons's debut show in Paris. It created a splash for its predominant use of black and distressed fabrics.^[2] Throughout the 1980s, Comme des Garçons's clothes often had the destroyed look.

After the Paris debut, Comme des Garçons exhibited photographs by Peter Lindbergh at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris in 1986 consisting of .^[3] The year 2005 saw an exhibition in Shinjuku, Tokyo of Comme Des Garçons advertising and graphic designs.

Fashion

Aoyama Store.

Comme des Garçons collections are designed in the Comme des Garçons studio in Aoyama, Tokyo and are made in Japan, France, Spain and Turkey.

The 1997 spring/summer collection, often referred to the 'lumps and bumps' collection, which contained fabric in bulk and balls on the garments. This led to a collaboration, also in 1997, between Rei Kawakubo and New York-based choreographer Merce Cunningham called 'Scenario'.

The 2006 autumn/winter collection dealt with the concept of the 'persona',^[4] the different ways we present ourselves to the world. Fusing tailored menswear with more feminine elements such as corsets and flower printed dress fabrics, 'Persona' was another collection that combined the feminine with the masculine by Comme des Garçons.

Junya Watanabe^[5][6] and, as of recently, Tao Kurihara^[7][8] have started their own sub-labels under the Comme des Garçons name to much acclaim. Both were also involved in designing for the casual women's knitwear line 'Comme des Garçons Tricot'.

Comme des Garçons have collaborated with various other labels over the years including Fred Perry, Levi's Converse All Star, Speedo, Nike, Moncler, Lacoste, Cutler and Gross, Chrome Hearts, Hammerthor,^[9] S. N. S. Herning, Louis Vuitton and many others. Comme des Garçons and H&M collaborated on a collection which was released in the fall of 2008.^[10][11]

Björk notably wears Comme des Garçons on her video Isobel. Other celebrities who have worn Comme des Garçons include Matt Bellamy, Alexander McQueen, Chloe Sevigny, Kanye West, Usher, Tilda Swinton, Herb Ritts, Tatiana Sorokko, Karl Lagerfeld, Mary-Kate Olsen, Vincent Ng, Selma Blair, Leila Aldik, Aubrey Graham (Drake), Joe Jonas and John Waters, who devoted a chapter of his 2010 book Role Models to Comme des Garçons and Rei Kawakubo.

Perfume

Comme des Garçons also produces a line of unisex fragrances, most of which are unconventional in the world of perfume, in the same spirit as the label's garments.^[12] They released their first fragrance 'Comme Des Garçons' in 1994.^[13] 1998 saw the release of Comme des Garçons's first "'anti-perfume' Odeur 53",^[14] a blending 53 non-traditional notes to create a modern and striking scent.^[15] Some of these notes being: oxygen, flash of metal, washing drying in the wind, mineral carbon, sand dunes, nail polish, cellulose, pure air of the high mountains, burnt rubber and flaming rock.

Comme des Garçons released the perfume for the Luxe series "Champaca", for which artist Katerina Jebb produced the visual.

Stores

Signature Comme des Garçons boutiques are located in London (Dover Street Market), Paris, New York City^[16], Beijing^[17], Hong Kong^[18], Seoul, St. Petersburg, Tokyo (2x), Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka. The company also maintains concessions at select department stores, such as Isetan. In Paris, a Comme des Garçons perfumery can be found at 23 Place Marché St-Honoré.

Comme des Garçons opened the first of their 'Guerrilla' stores in 2004 in Berlin.^[19] The Guerrilla stores' aim is to be open for only one year^[20] and to spend a minimal amount of money on the interiors.^[21] The stores are also to be located away from fashionable hubs and districts of a city. Comme des Garçons Guerrilla stores have been opened (and subsequently closed) in Reykjavik, Warsaw, Helsinki, Singapore, Stockholm and Athens, amongst others. In July 2007, a Guerrilla Store opened in the Achrafieh district of Beirut, Lebanon, and in February 2008, a Guerrilla Store opened in downtown Los Angeles, the first in the United States.^[22] In November 2008, they opened another Guerilla store in the west end of Glasgow.

2004 saw the opening in London of Dover Street Market (DSM)^[23][24], a multilevel store conceptualised by Rei Kawakubo. As well as selling Comme Des Garçons lines, other designers are personally invited and "accorded 'creative spaces'"^[25] by Kawakubo to open a section of the store and design it in any way they wish while often selling limited edition pieces made only for DSM.

In December 2009, Comme des Garçons opened a 4,400 square feet (410 m²) store in Hong Kong called Under The Ground. Hong Kong also has had a Guerrilla store opened and closed in previous years, run by Silly Thing Hong Kong.^[26]

In August 2010, Comme des Garçons opened a 19,000 square feet (1,800 m²), six-level flagship store in Seoul, South Korea. In addition to merchandise, the store features a branded art-exhibition space, the company's first outside Japan.^[27]

In January 2011, Club 21 opened a 3,035 square feet (282.0 m²) Comme des Garçons store in Singapore. Singapore also previously had Guerrilla stores; and in October 2010, a Pocket store was opened.

In First Quarter of 2012 the first Comme des Garçons store in The Philippines will open it will be located in Rockwell Center.

Comme Des Garçons lines

designed by Rei Kawakubo:

• Comme des Garçons – main women's line (since 1973)
• Comme des Garçons Noir – black-dominated women's collection (since 1987)
• Comme des Garçons Comme Des Garçons – (aka 'Comme Comme') womenswear (since 1993)
• Comme des Garçons Homme Plus – main men's line (since 1984)
• Comme des Garçons Homme Plus Sport – sporty subline of Homme Plus
• Comme des Garçons Homme Plus Evergreen – subline of Homme Plus, re-invented items from past collections (since 2005)
• Comme des Garçons Homme Deux – formal tailored menswear (since 1987)
• Comme des Garçons SHIRT – shirt-dominated collection (since 1988)
• Play Comme des Garçons – younger men's and women's casual streetwear with bug-eyed heart logo (collaboration with New York graphic artist Filip Pagowski )
• Black Comme des Garçons – temporary women's and men's low-priced diffusion line, sold in signature BLACK pop-up shops

designed by Junya Watanabe:

• Comme des Garçons Homme – men's Japanese line (since 1978)
• Comme des Garçons Robe de Chambre – women Japanese line (discontinued)
• Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons – womenswear (since 1992)
• Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons Man – menswear (since 2001)
• Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons Man Pink – menswear items for women (discontinued)

designed by Tao Kurihara:

• Tao Comme des Garçons – womenswear (launched 2005, discontinued after spring 2011)
• Tricot Comme des Garçons – women's knitwear

accessories:

• Comme des Garçons Edited – special items for Edited shops in Japan
• Comme des Garçons Pearl – jewellery (since 2006)
• Comme des Garçons Parfum – (since 1994)
• Comme des Garçons Parfum Parfum
• Comme des Garçons Wallet
• Speedo Comme des Garçons – swimwear collaboration (since 2005)
• Hammerthor Comme des Garçons Shirt – underwear collaboration (since 2007)

others:

• Ganryu Comme des Garçons – unisex street style label designed by Fumito Ganryu, a former patternmaker at Junya
• Comme des Garçons Peggy Moffitt
• Comme des Garçons Six – bi-annual magazine (from 1988 to 1991)
• design collaborations with mainstream brands. – eg. Levi's, Lacoste, Fred Perry, The North Face, Nike, Inc., Monocle, H&M, Undercover, Visvim, Chrome Hearts, 10.Corso.Como, Kaws, Louis Vuitton, etc.

References

1. ^ The New York Times: Gang of Four
2. ^ Time magazine: Women in fashion - Rei Kawakubo
3. ^ "Peter Lindbergh for Comme des Garçons"
4. ^ style.com: Comme des Garcons F/W 2006
5. ^ NYmag: Junya Watanabe
6. ^ Fashion Windows: Junya Watanabe
7. ^ W: The Tao of design
8. ^ Liberty: Designer Room
9. ^ vmagazine.com Comme des Garçons and the most avant-garde underwear around
10. ^ Vogue: Comme des Garcons for H&M
11. ^ Int'l Herald Tribune: Rei Kawakubo and H & M: A collaboration to watch
12. ^ Int'l Herald Tribune: Comme des Garçons builds niche perfume empire
13. ^ hypebeast: Comme des Garcons Perfume
14. ^ Wallpaper: New Comme des Garcons perfume
15. ^ The Conveyor Belt: Comme des Garçons
16. ^ Future Systems: Comme des Garcons
17. ^ highsnobiety: Comme des Garcons Beijing flagship store
18. ^ highsnobiety: Comme des Garcons Store 2007 Hong Kong
19. ^ The New York Times: The Anti-Concept Concept Store
20. ^ The New York Times: A Store Made for Right Now: You Shop Until It's Dropped
21. ^ Archimedes Pool: Guerrilla Store by Comme des Garçons
22. ^ Los Angeles Times: A hip hideaway
23. ^ icon eye: Dover Street Market
24. ^ The Observer: Shabby chic
25. ^ The Spectator: Fashion dressed as art
26. ^ hypebeast: Comme des Garcons Hong Kong
27. ^ [1]

28. artists Stephen Shanabrook and Veronika Georgieva for Comme des Garçons S/S 2010 ad campaign [2], [3]

External links

• Dover Street Market - Comme des Garçons London store official web site
• Comme des Garçons Company official web site
• Comme des Garçons Parfums official web site

• Comme des Garçons Saint Petersburg Store un-official blog. Lots of high-quality pictures.
• Comme des Garçons women's F/W 2008 collection
• Comme des Garçons Homme Plus men's F/W 2008 collection
• Comme des Garçons Homme Deux men's S/S 2008 collection
• Junya Watanabe women's F/W 2008 collection
• Junya Watanabe Man men's F/W 2008 collection
• Tao F/W 2008 collection by Tao Kurihara
• Comme des Garçons fragrances at Basenotes
• Filip Pagowski home page
• NUMBER 3 is the former COMME des GARÇONS Guerrilla Store +30210 Athens