Rei Kawakubo Channels Her “Anger” in Comme des Garçons FW24

For Comme des Garçons’ Fall/Winter 2024 Ready-to-Wear, Rei Kawakubo channeled her intense emotions into a monochromatic womenswear lineup, aptly titled “Anger.”

Although black has been among the brand’s iconic colors since its early beginnings, practically every piece in the FW24 lineup is doused in a pitch-black hue — a dramatic shift from the SS24 collection where every look is a lenticular explosion of colors, patterns, and shapes.

In the past, Kawakubo favored the hue as a symbol of resistance, but within the context of anger, the color evokes a sense of forlornness amidst a looming apocalypse. “This collection is about my present state of mind. I have anger against everything in the world, especially against myself,” Kawakubo wrote in the show’s press statement.

While the clothes arrive in Kawakubo’s signature theatrical and avant-garde silhouettes, a certain unkemptness permeates the collection. With pannier skirts and pompadour wigs, Marie Antoinette may just have been a key inspiration for the styling of the collection. From the folded segments, pleats that are rough around the edges, raw hems, visible chalk markings to ruching that resembles scrunched-up scraps, the pieces exude an ironic appeal that looks as if they’ve been crudely and hastily put together.

Take a closer look at Comme des Garçons’ FW24 collection in the gallery above.