You can read “Uncertain Future” — the title of Rei Kawakubo’s spring 2025 collection for Comme des Garçons — in geopolitical terms, in climate terms, in economic terms.
She didn’t specify, but suggested that confronting an uncertain world with “air and transparency could signify a kind of hope.”
In her fashion universe, uncertainty could drive you to hide inside a stiff cone of fancy floral jacquard, and peek out warily through a narrow slit, or to carry a portable fabric fitting room around with you, leaving the curtain parted ever so slightly, with only your legs poking out.
You might shield yourself from uncertainty with round, rectangular or banana-shaped bundles of fabric tacked together and encased in tulle — or in stiffened swirls of fabric resembling a dome of soft-serve ice cream, or a Montblanc dessert.
Here was one of Kawakubo’s most abstract collections in years, containing dresses that resembled the following: a tiered wedding cake, a cat tower, a stack of fluffy white clouds — even Mr. Snuffleupagus, at least in profile.
Blur your eyes a bit and you might also conjure Renaissance silhouettes, and some of the characters that sat for Johannes Vermeer and other painters during the Dutch Golden Age.
Or you could just sit back and notice how almost everything Kawakubo threw at you was heartening, and taking your mind somewhere else.
All the fabrics and textures seemed cheery, bringing to mind cake frosting, plush toys, and Christmas wrapping. What’s remarkable about Kawakubo is that even when she’s in a dark mood, which is frequently, there is always femininity and prettiness to be found in her clothes.
One of her ambulating fitting rooms came tied up in the middle with a big red tulle bow, and you had to smile.
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