Returning to monochrome
Comme des Garçons SHIRT
Autumn/Winter 2014
I have written previously about how I feel that Comme des Garçons Comme des Garçons is for women everything I wish Comme des Garçons SHIRT was for men – beautiful and understated Comme. The past few seasons of Shirt have not grabbed me in the same way that Comme Comme did. To be honest I found the use of colour, and quite a lot of the prints, quite off putting. There was a heavy reliance on patterned prints and colour that somewhat overshadowed the best of the construction. It is actually quite often the case that when I see an interesting garment with a touch too much going on visually, I want to see a version made in a single colour or variations of the same colour. If the design of a garment does not work in black or white, chances are that no amount of colour or print can save it.
I think the way print and colour are handled where Homme Plus is concerned is usually far more successful, because the marriage between the use of colours and the design of the garment is far more sensitively handled. I suppose that could in part be as a result of Homme Plus being a more complete line, so to speak, designed around an entire outfit in mind, whereas Shirt is, as the name suggests, based primarily around the shirting. Shirt is also where the majority of collaborations take place, which necessarily changes the direction collections take (the less said about the Star Wars collaboration the better, but I did quite enjoy the Mickey Mouse collaboration…hmmm). Shirts with prints of strawberry skin or various dogs are hardly my cup of tea, but that is a personally preference - I can see why it would be popular with much of the Comme crowd.
As such I was pleasantly surprised to see that for Autumn/Winter 2014 Rei had returned to a darker palette for the Shirt line. For this collection she invited Nicolas Buffe, an artist noted for his costume and stage design, to collaborate and produce the rather charming prints of costumed performers one notes on many of the garments. These prints stood alongside the usual Comme polka dots and stripes, creating what I thought was actually a nice marriage. The prints are not too bold, given the fine line of the illustrations, which I think works well with the colour palette - my thoughts immediately went to chalk.
Although the collection did not blow me away like the Homme Plus collection did (but then that is a tough call), it was a collection of perfectly nice and wearable clothes. ‘Wearable’ is key here – I actually want to buy some of the pieces to wear myself. I usually enjoy looking at Shirt pieces, but it has been a long time since I have seen a Shirt collection where there are numerous garments I actually want to purchase and wear. I am rather interested in trying on the various versions of the drop crotch trousers, because the cut looks far roomier than the BLACK versions I previously owned (they were a unisex piece I believe). I have rather long legs so hopefully the fit will be somewhat better with the Shirt version. Considering the way that embracing Yohji has changed the way I approach clothing...I might just size up, throw on a baggy white shirt, belt up and roll the hems. Bring it.
Although the collection did not blow me away like the Homme Plus collection did (but then that is a tough call), it was a collection of perfectly nice and wearable clothes. ‘Wearable’ is key here – I actually want to buy some of the pieces to wear myself. I usually enjoy looking at Shirt pieces, but it has been a long time since I have seen a Shirt collection where there are numerous garments I actually want to purchase and wear. I am rather interested in trying on the various versions of the drop crotch trousers, because the cut looks far roomier than the BLACK versions I previously owned (they were a unisex piece I believe). I have rather long legs so hopefully the fit will be somewhat better with the Shirt version. Considering the way that embracing Yohji has changed the way I approach clothing...I might just size up, throw on a baggy white shirt, belt up and roll the hems. Bring it.
xxxx