Ensemble

Rei Kawakubo|Comme des Garçons

spring/summer 2012 · (a) plastic (foam); (b) acrylic, nylon; (c) rayon, cotton/polyester, viscose rayon; (d, e) cotton, plastic (polyurethane) · Costume Institute

The hidden supportive understructures of eighteenth- and nineteenth- century womenswear often inform the work of contemporary designers, who have translated inner layers of shaping into outer ornament. Here, Rei Kawakubo elaborates on the form of an 1880s bustle, originally meant to emphasize one zone of the body, to create a skirt with an entirely new, lobed silhouette. Kawakubo's use of white lace recalls the delicate embellishment of lingerie—a further transformation of the intimate into the conspicuous.

Artist

Rei Kawakubo|Comme des Garçons

Date

spring/summer 2012

Medium

(a) plastic (foam); (b) acrylic, nylon; (c) rayon, cotton/polyester, viscose rayon; (d, e) cotton, plastic (polyurethane)

Culture

Japanese

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Comme des Garçons, in honor of Harold Koda, 2016