Rei Kawakubo and Comme des Garcons

by Deyan Sudjic

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1990

About the author

Deyan Sudjic is Director of the Design Museum. He was born in London, and studied architecture in Edinburgh. He has worked as a critic for The Observer and The Sunday Times, as the editor of Domus in Milan, as the director of the Venice Architecture Biennale, and as a curator in Glasgow, Istanbul and Copenhagen. He is the author of B is for Bauhaus, The Language of Things and The Edifice Complex.

Reviews

[Grace Manalo]

What I would do for a copy of this book.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knowing next to nothing about either Rei Kawakubo and the CDG brand, this book gives a deep and detailed insight about the high fashion brand and its designer. It talks about the first Paris show, the clothes and its materials and how the design of the stores and its furniture is truly one piece of art.

[Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two surprises in regards to this apparently difficult to find book. The first is, while there obviously was some original reporting (and a trip to Tokyo), many of the quotes from Kawakubo come from other articles/sources. There are a few interesting bits about the early history, but most of it is a 1989 view of the label. The second surprise is much of the photography in the book is dedicated to the early retail design and furniture. Not that there aren't plenty of fashion photographs, but the author seems more interested in architecture (which is not a surprise, given the author). Photographers from the early international CDG campaigns include Steven Meisel, Bruce Weber and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. The reproduction quality on the photography is not high; which should dissuade most people from paying the 'rare' price for this book.