In an interview with Women's Wear Daily (2012), Rei Kawakubo was asked, "If you could have invented one garment, what would it be, and why?"
Rei Kawakubo replied, "I would have liked to invent the plain white shirt, with a skirt and pants to go with it."
Check out some cool iconic images of a white shirt doing its thing.....
The one used on the cover is 'cooler' isn't it |
The shirt is one of our oldest garments. Originally it existed as an underwear garment, with neither collar nor cuffs. In the 1700s, it had emerged as outerwear with a collar of huge proportions, and was very decorated with embroidery and lace. A tailor sorted out the "well to do man" and the "common man' had his shirts made by his wife.
In the mid 1800s the shirt took on a bit more tailoring to shape the male body, and at the end of WW1, buttons all along the front became popular. In the 1930s the shirt with a fixed collar was revived, and has been with us ever since.
The following four websites present a good overview concerning the history of the shirt.
This one relates to the Renaissance Era
http://www.kamiceria.com/blog/2013/09/history-of-dress-shirts-sophistication-elegance-renaissance/
This one relates to the Baroque Period
http://www.kamiceria.com/blog/2013/09/baroque-shirts-elegance-sophistication-style/
This one relates to the Rococo style
http://www.kamiceria.com/blog/2013/11/rococo-elegance-mens-shirts/
This one relates to changes in the 1800s
http://www.kamiceria.com/blog/2014/02/mens-shirts-19th-century-new-forms-expression/
This one relates to what the shirt is about in the 1900s, and do take in the video at the end "100 years of fashion in 100 seconds.' It's fab. fun.
http://www.kamiceria.com/blog/2014/05/history-shirt-20th-century/
In 1988, Rei Kawakubo presented a shirt dominated collection line, 'Comme des Garcons Shirt'. It is primarily men's shirts, and the most wonderful creativity goes into the various collections, not only in the design work, but also the advertising campaigns used to sell the product. These campaigns are a good example of how brand image is established.
The 'Comme des Garcons Shirt' campaigns are something totally in their own realm. The advertisements will feature anything, like current day graffiti, 16th C. Flemish paintings, dogs or underground comics. The list is extensive, and apparently one campaign did actually feature people wearing shirts!
Alice Rawsthorn, a very interesting British design critic, who writes widely on the subject of Design, (in The New York Times and other publications) once said "....the only consistent thing about them (the CdG Shirt Advertising Campaigns) is their inconsistency". These "inconsistent" campaigns have built a strong image of a brand and its creator (CdG) plus those who will wear the shirts.
Here are some examples of the 'CdG Shirt' advertising campaigns. Obviously the first campaigns featured the actual shirts, then Rei really branched out!
Comme des Garcons Shirt Fall 1988 |
CdG Shirt 1989 |
These are wonderful machine sculptures by French artist Paul Granjon for S/S 2008 |
Spring/Summer 2010 |
(I'm re-watching Breaking Bad at the moment, and this reminds me of the pink ted that ends up in Walt's pool, minus an eyeball!)
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