Not on display

This object consists of 2 parts, some of which may be located elsewhere.

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Ensemble

2016
Artist/Maker
Comme Des Garçons
Rei Kawakubo (designer)
Place of origin
Japan (made)
Dover Street Market (retailed)

Dress in pink PU leather with frilled shoulder and arm detail, cut-out in front.

Object details

Categories
Womenswear
Fashion
Object type
Ensemble
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Jacket
  • Coats
Materials and techniques
Polyurethane leather
PU
Leather
Coating
Brief description
dress and coat, pink PU leather, designed by Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons, Tokyo, Autumn-Winter 2016.
Physical description
Dress in pink PU leather with frilled shoulder and arm detail, cut-out in front.
Gallery label
(2017-2018)
Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion text

THE BODY REINTERPRETED
REI KAWAKUBO
The outrage surrounding Balenciaga’s ‘sack’ dress in the 1950s was echoed in the controversy caused by Rei Kawakubo’s early collections in the 1970s for her label Comme des Garçons. Some interpreted the sack-like shapes as an attack on Western notions of beauty. Today, her increasingly architectural, often one-off designs continue to be inspired by traditional Japanese dress and are as much about the space around the body as the body itself.

Woman’s ensemble
Polyurethane leather
Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons, Tokyo,
Autumn/Winter 2016
Purchase funded by the Lee
Alexander McQueen Fund for
Fashion
V&A: T.39:1, 2-2017
Credit line
Purchase funded by the Lee Alexander McQueen Fund for Fashion
Object history
Displayed in the V&A's Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion exhibition (2017-2018).
Collection
Textiles and Fashion Collection
Accession number
T.39-2017

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Record createdOctober 4, 2016
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1370256/ensemble-rei-kawakubo/
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