Metal Nº 37

When Rei Kawakubo expresses her inner sense of fashion it's rather to explore a new relationship with the preconceived ideas of body, perfection and beauty. One day in 1993, after seeing a layout of the anti-fashion photographer Cindy Sherman in Harper’s Bazaar, Kawakubo contacted her to introduce the idea of joining forces for a collaboration. 1993 marked indeed Comme des Garçons’ twentieth anniversary; for that reason, Kawakubo gave total freedom to the New York-based photographer to display clothing from each of the past Comme des Garçons collections. The outcome was as fantastic as provocative: a Fall/Winter 1993-1994 campaign depicting female characters who were imperfect, distorted, over-the-top, and even ‘ugly’ for mainstream beauty standards. It bravely challenged femininity norms, which, obviously, turned the fashion world upside down.