COMME des GARÇONS Revives Its Cult Magazine, ‘Six’
Rei Kawakubo’s iconic imprint returns after 35 years with global installations, a tee collection, and, of course, an ultra-exclusive print mailer.
Summary
Rei Kawakubo's COMME des GARÇONS magazine, 'Six,' is brought back in print as an exclusive mailer, featuring archival covers and images, paired with new works that embody its spirit
The revival also takes shape as a series of installations in at COMME des GARÇONS Aoyama, and Dover Street Market's Paris and London locations, wrapping architecture in blown-up images from archival issues
A limited-edition collection of 12 tees, each emblazoned with art from the magazine, is also available online and in-person at DSM
COMME des GARÇONS’ Six is back. The cult magazine by Rei Kawakubo sees a revival this Frieze with installations in London, Paris, and Tokyo, a tee collection, and, true to form, a print edition.
First published in 1988, Six ran for just eight editions before ending in 1991, but its imprint on fashion, art, and image culture, remain as relevant as ever. A conceptual look book for the brand, the biannual offered a post-clothing vision of fashion that pushed past the industry and into realms of design, film, architecture, art and photography. Salvador Dalí, Robert Frank, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Peter Lindbergh, Issey Miyake, and Yohji Yamamoto were among the contributors.
“High fashion has to have a mystery about it,” Kawakubo once said. “This is the next step: visual representation of the collection, purely for image.” Only a few of its pages actually featured COMME des GARÇONS clothing.
The first in 35 years, the new issue brings together six archival covers and various pages, paired with works from today’s image-makers that embeody the spirit of Six, curated by Kawakubo herself. According to Adrian Joffe, the president of Comme des Garçons International, the magazines were shared to select clients in the installations’ cities as mailers. It’s to be expected given the label’s rep for avant-garde, discreet branding.
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If you couldn’t peep the new edition in print form, the comeback also extends into built installations in Tokyo, Paris, and London, each uniquely tending to its surroundings. A series of pillars, wrapped in archival Six pages have taken over the floor at COMME des GARÇONS Aoyama and Dover Street Market Paris’ outdoor courtyard. A window exhibition of images also recently opened at Dover Street Market’s London outpost, which can be viewed from the store’s exterior, moving into another pillar showcase inside
“Six is the sixth sense,” the first issue reads. “It is the sense of the surreal. Although the sixth sense is impossible to describe, ‘flair’ may be one aspect of this sense.”
Six by Comme des Garçons is now on view at Dover Street Market London until November 13 during Frieze London. A companion 12-piece tee collection featuring select artworks from the magazine is also available in-store and online for a limited run.
