COLLECTIONS A/W 2011 - SPECIAL ISSUE

1/19-A

“Gold is the new color” was the allusive and only explanation Rei Kawakubo gave for her AW11 collection. Yet, this lack of a direct guideline is also what makes her works and collections so very special. After all, it’s becoming hard to find shows and collections that leave so much room for multiple interpretations. One, for example, might think of the current pluralism of fashion and its failure at communicating something relevant or even consistent. Since fashion gave up on innovation and replaced it with recycling of styles from the past, there has been a current demand to pile up such a variety of references from so different origins that their real meaning ends up getting lost. So a paisley print, or a baroque one as showed by genius Rei Kawakubo, has the same relevance or meaning of a 60’s floral or souvenir prints. Being dressed in the most impeccable cut tailored jacket is the same of having your back nude, given the absence of meaning.

But again, this is just one of the possible interpretations.