SEOUL 1st Anniversary

Comme des Garçons Seoul Hannam dong

Happy 1st Anniversary

EVENTS

To celebrate the first anniversary of the Comme des Garçons shop in Seoul, we present the following events, each symbolising the company values and beliefs.

Hut invasion

Rei Kawakubo has used the ground floor window space to make this celebratory  installation.  The concept of Kawakubo was to make a hut that would combine the art of Assume Vivid Astro Focus (AVAF)  and the space of Rose Bakery cafe and make it one.  In other words, making art and the daily reality of life expression one and the same thing. Encompassing part of the Play box and surrounding four of the tables of Rose Bakery cafe, the CDG Seoul hut is covered mostly with image AVAF, an artist group comprising Brazilian Eli Sudbrack and Frenchman Christophe Hamaide Pierson, with whom we have been collaborating all year in our communications. Parts of the hut are also covered with galvanised steel and plywood. The hut has become a potent symbol of the iconoclastic vision of Comme des Garçons ever since it graced the entrance of Dover Street Market in 2004.

 Archive installation

In two of the tunnels in the store, for the very first time anywhere in the world, Comme des Garçons presents 7 archive pieces each from the 1997 collections,  spring summer and fall winter. The "dress meets body" SS97 collection has gone down in history as one of the most revolutionary and controversial collection of the century. The undeniable beauty of the never seen before shapes,  that transformed  the body and questioned all our preconceived ideas about how to dress, provoked all kinds of extreme reactions.

The FW 97 collection is called "adult punk" and again began from zero, as with every collection, to express in a new way Comme des Garçons'  eternal love of punk spirit.

 Gwangju Biennale

As part of the celebration, Comme des Garçons has created a huge installation 26 metres long, 5 metres high and wide, placed in the main square of the entrance to the chief Biennale buildings in the city of Gwangju. Invited by Minsuk Cho to participate, "The Road of Comme des Garçons" depicts the history and progress of the company through printed matter, architecture, interior design, direct mailings, advertising etc. Through this installation, it can be illustrated that the pillar of creation on which Rei Kawakubo founded CDG  in 1969 reaches to every part of the company. It can be shown that Comme des Garçons' creation is not only about clothing, but about making the image of creation everything that makes the company grow.  It could be thought of as the continuing designing of the whole of company itself, as a work in progress and looking towards the future. That is the "Road of Comme des Garçons."

August 30. 2011

 

 

all pictures © Comme des Garçons