When mired in the midst of A/W15 fashion shows and near-Arctic temperatures, it can be easy to forget about the season we are temporally aligned with: Spring/Summer. Luckily, Rei Kawakubo has created a special installation of her S/S15 Comme des Garçons Blood and Roses collection to coincide with its arrival at London's Dover Street Market.
What the window offers is an opportunity to examine the garments at a proximity ordinarily reserved for industry-exclusive post-show re-sees, or those partial to purchasing full looks of avant-garde design. Close inspection reveals the raw edges of fabric, crumpled into flowers with an angry precision, visible seams sewn straight through delicate chiffons, a stiff shine to the leathers. What Kawakubo is greatest at is communicating a heartfelt, human energy throughout Comme des Garçons; a rawness and authenticity that can be lost in the strategic decision-making that infects so many brands, and never is this passion more apparent than at close quarters. It is the timeless purity of Kawakubo's devotion to both craftsmanship and honesty that elevates her above the need for a hashtag to sustain relevance in 2015 – and the DSM window is a refreshing reminder of that.
