Hermès and Comme des Garçons celebrated “Comme des Carrés” last night in New York at the Comme des Garçons store in Chelsea. Over the weekend and into next week the silk scarf collection – in two parts – will go on sale at CDG in Paris, Tokyo, and London.
Comme des Carrés is a collaboration between Bali Barret, Hermès’ women’s universe artistic director and CDG’s Rei Kawakubo; one that we were quite intrigued to hear about when we received our save-the-date earlier this year. Last night, the futuristic, maze-like, all-white CDG shop in Chelsea was transformed to showcase the carrés in cascading drawers surrounded by mannequins knit from Hermes silk. Despite a few misbehaving mannequins who kept falling from their perch, the evening drew the perfect mix of fashion followers and art world regulars looking to shop and sample some champagne (perhaps to calm the nerves after the crowd at Gagosian Gallery’s Basquiat mega-show).
The first five scarves of the collection are classic CDG, in black-and-white (of course) stark abstract patterns. The other six – reserved just for the Dover Street Market stores in London and Tokyo – come in surprising colors and pattern combinations that play with the traditional Hermès carrés. Kawakubo also created an enormous patchwork scarf, including three large scarves in three quadrants, and four smaller scarves in the final quadrant. Barret likened it to a work of art and we couldn’t agree more. Swoon.
“Rei Kawakubo has stamped her vision on the Hermès scarf. With rigour, precision, energy and salience,” said Barret in a statement. “I have always deeply respected the tradition and craftsmanship of Hermès. In our project together, rather than wanting to wear the scarves, I was looking forward to the change that would happen when I added something to the beautiful ‘paintings’ of Hermès scarf designs. I think through the addition of abstract images, we have transformed the scarf and created something new,” added Kawakubo.
The collection will also be for sale online at doverstreetmarket.com from February 6, 2013 for the “Colour” collection and from April 1, 2013 for the “Black and White” collection.
