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Be candid: when people think about brands like Comme des Garçons Play, the very first picture that comes to mind is the famous heart-shaped emblem that appears on one of the brand’s apparel lines. However, if that’s all you realise about the brand, you’re losing out on the tales that have surrounded this immensely successful fashion company throughout history. As a result, we decided to delve further and share some of the essential information you should know concerning the esteemed brand. The brand is popular in Australia for its converse shoes and clothes. Over 40% of the revenue generated in Australia is from these categories.
Fact#1: It is a Japanese brand with a French name
Even though the Comme des Garçons Play came into existence in Tokyo, the name was derived from a song released seven years before the company’s creation — ‘All the Boys and Girls,‘ composed by a French recording artist and performed by a French singer-songwriter during that time. The company, whose name translates as “like some guys” in French, has always been concerned with blurring gender boundaries, even before androgynous design became popular in the fashionable world.
Fact#2: Rei Kawakubo, the creator of this brand
After graduating from Keio University with a degree in fine arts and literature, Rei Kawakubo began her professional career in the advertising department of a textile manufacturing business. Later on, she discovered her true love in the world of fashion, and she eventually made her way into the business as a freelance stylist. Even though she lacked formal training for a fashion designer profession, Rei Kawakubo’s enthusiasm propelled her to today: she is the company’s renowned creator and creative director.
Fact#3: Rei Kawakubo’s Creativity
Famous for her creative and completely out-of-the-box attitude, the Japanese designer has made abstract creations. She creates new shapes and reinterprets one’s understanding of clothing, resulting in pieces that lie halfway between fine art and fashion.
Fact#4: First among Japanese fashion companies to exhibit in the Paris Fashion Show
The brand has achieved its desired status throughout time due to Rei Kawakubo’s pioneering attitude and great designs. The brands’ debut fashion show was staged in Paris in 1981, and it was via this event that the Japanese designer gained worldwide recognition. It is also the first time a Japanese company has participated in the Paris Fashion Show.
Fact#5: The debut collection of the brand, dubbed “the black crows”
Many tabloids and magazines dubbed the brands ‘the black crows’ because of the exaggerated shapes and grey colour palettes that the brand was known for. As part of her attempt to shake up the fashion business, Kawakubo avoids showcasing wearable items during her runway presentations. Instead, she reinterprets them using her ingenuity and her imagination to create something new. The brand, which was first seen as highly contentious, was subsequently regarded as modernist and aesthetic.
Fact #6: The second living designer to have an exhibit at the Met Gala
When the brand was invited to participate in the Met Gala in 2017, they put on a hugely exciting display that looked just like the fashion brand. The exhibition, titled Art of the In-Between, was just the second occasion in the event’s history, after Yves Saint Laurent’s appearance in 1983, that a living designer was included. The show, which included over 150 couture pieces, traced the house’s remarkable journey over the last four decades, from the founder’s route and philosophy in fashion to the broader framework of her meaning in culture and art, among other things.
