"The King Is Naked" was sketched onto the back of a latex like clear cape in the closing look of the Comme Des Garçons Homme Plus collection by Rei Kawakubo, legendary designer known for her anonymity and avant garde creations for the Comme Des Garcons brand. The motif, for this collection, was mysteriously too easy to dissect. Usually Comme collections are an enigma, nearly impossible to understand and always make the viewer question what they are seeing. This collection, however, was all about Han's Christian Anderson's "The Emperor's New Clothes", a nearly 200 year old fairytale describing human nature in regards to power, influence, vanity, and the power of the swindler. The fable is short, nearly 1500 words when translated into English, telling of a vain king who lived for clothes, and poured his power, influence, and money into his garments. A few swindlers who falsely portrayed themselves as incredible weavers, who's clothes were so fine and fantastic that they were light as air, and only the noble and truthful people could see the full beauty. These swindlers managed to gain the king's ransom to produce attire for him to walk in for a parade, and they pretended to weave and sew garments that weren't actually there at all, all the while the noblemen were too afraid to say anything, because they themselves thought that perhaps they weren't noble enough to see the clothes. The king couldn't see the clothes either, but refused to expose his inner thoughts for a fear that his subjects would see him as unfit for the position as king. He dresses in nothing, and shows off in a parade where every single member of his ruling couldn't see the clothes, but pretended to see it, in fear. It takes one innocent child to say the truth: "But he isn't wearing anything!" Instantly he is dismissed, but the townspeople begin to realize the truth, and the king does as well, but carries on with the parade in spite. All of this may seem like a silly story, but there is a much deeper meaning about ignorance, fear, and fashion. Rei Kawakubo with her men's collection must be making a statement about the current state of the fashion industry. Currently luxury houses have found it interesting to make clothes that cost thousands of dollars look disheveled, with rips and tears for the sake of fashion. It is shallow, and fashion should be taken to deeper and more thought provoking extremes, in my opinion. The PVC clothes were all nearly invisible, with floating buttons and stitches. This motif paired with the brand's signature black created an edginess I live for in fashion. There was also a lot of collaboration in this collection, with Nike shoes and art company Forasetti's signature prints worked into suits, like the gazing eyes of the townspeople looking at the king in the fairytale. This aspect of the fairytale brings up a very interesting point: powerful people are vulnerable because they are exposed to the public eye. There was venerability in the story, with the king, the perfect example of poshness and control to the townspeople being taken a fool and exposing himself, just as the models in the fashion show had their boxer briefs exposed underneath the transparent clothes. Another aspect of the physical clothes, were the slogans, "The King is Naked", " Beauty is in the eye" "It's my fashion", just to name some. Never have I ever seen a Comme Des Garcons Homme Plus shown with these explicit slogans. These slogans almost make it too east to interpret this fashion show, which raises suspicion. Is there more to this collection behind the easy interpretation?
Photo Credits: VogueRunway.com
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