There were no comments, messages or references to global events such as the migrant crisis in Europe and the debate about separated families at the US border on the menswear runways (yes, runways can become an opportunity to speak your mind and spread a message/support a cause).
Yet, some of the stories that have been on the news in the last few weeks and days, seemed to be evoked by the moods and themes on the Comme des Garçons Homme Plus runway.
Entitled "Crazy Suits", the collection featured a series of rather peculiar suits with elements and motifs that made you think about cages, imprisonment and constriction.
Models walked from behind a high iron fence located at the end of the runway and the first group of young men were led by a model in a jacket with a cage-like motif.
As the runway progressed you realised Kawakubo wasn't commenting about what's going on at the moment in the real world, but she was pondering about the possibilities offered by a men's suit, a piece often considered as dated by younger generations.
Hence the models who walked down the runway after the first group of young men donned different versions of the classic suit, that at times looked rather extravagant: first there were suits made with long rectangles of tulle in different shades of olive green that seemed the evening version of ghillie suits.
The military theme continued in the jackets and trousers made with a textile that called to mind the fabric used for camouflage netting or screens of the sort people use when they go fishing or hunting.
Stratified rain jackets and light parkas matched with neon coloured T-shirts sewn together and forming shoulder capes followed, providing a break between the military theme and the garments that came later on, in particular a series of suits shrunk around the chest area or along the legs using ruching or decorated with cage-like cut-outs made with strips of shiny PVC that looked like tape.
Breaking away from conformity, the silhouettes of these suits were altered to vaguely resemble men's garments from the 18th century, or they were downsized to the point that pants were turned into shorts.
More experiments between tailoring and historical garments continued in the jackets that seemed to integrated in the front panel dress shirts bibs.
The most wearable and covetable pieces remained the jackets with multicoloured polka dot prints on the lapels, matched with polka dot shirts in contrasting fabrics.
The most extravagant were instead the final suits characterised by shiny fabrics and holographic textures, accessorised with thick golden chains decorated with plastic animal parts such as jaws and eyeballs.
The materials were interesting as Kawakubo opted for a variety of colours and textures – from florals to plaids and checks, from Daniel Buren-like stripes to tie-dye.
Another interesting material was the latex employed for the Ken doll-evoking plastic and molded hairstyle by Julien d'Y, at times reminiscent of the style favoured by the teddy boys.
Crazy tailoring is a theme far removed from the more serious social and human rights issues Europe and the US are dealing with now, but the theme of the cage seemed incredibly relevant to our days.
In the same way as we may never discover what Melania Trump really meant with her cryptic jacket (seen in yesterday's post), we may never really find out what was in Kawakubo's mind when she came up with this theme and this set. In a nutshell, maybe there's more than meets the eye behind her tailored cages.
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