In a world increasingly reliant on instant answers, Rei Kawakubo and her Comme des Garçons have, since the brand’s founding in 1969, made a point of creating even more questions. The avant-garde brand, one of the key players in putting Japanese fashion on the world map in the 1980s, is known for its sculptural creations, with exaggerated shapes that are difficult to navigate—as if they were, in fact, wearable works of art. It was by going against the grain of obvious, trend-based fashion that the label (which is opening its first store in South America in May 2025, at the Iguatemi in São Paulo) became a favorite among fashion enthusiasts worldwide.
In the Spring/Summer 2025 collection, presented on Saturday afternoon, the questioning surrounding their spectacular clothing was not at all different from the usual. Behind the scenes, the designer’s husband and brand president, Adrian Joffe, stated that, unlike the last collection, inspired by anger, the presented show would take a different path. “With the state of the world as it is, and the future as uncertain as it is, if you add air and transparency to the equation, there may be a possibility of hope,” he said. Structured garments flirting with the absurd, with skirts made of a superposition of “pillows” and what appeared to be plastic bags individually swallowed by tulle, head arrangements that resembled Mickey Mouse ears, details that seemed to have been bloodstained, and finally, dresses that resembled walking clouds concluded the show. Playful, provocative, fantastic, fun and critical. All at the same time and in the same place, with few answers, but with the certainty that a fascinating story was told on the runway.
