For Spring Summer 2002, Rei Kawakubo presented Comme des Garcons' "Ethnic Couture," a predominantly white and off-white collection built around volume, pleating, layering and irregular construction. Oversized ruffs and collars sat alongside gathered dresses, loose sarouel pants and jumpsuits, cropped jackets and skirts assembled from multiple layers of fabric. Numerical graphics, bows and an unexpected pug print periodically interrupted the otherwise clinical palette. To finish it off, Kawakubo made the last minute decision to conceal the models’ hair beneath sculptural papier mache newspaper caps.
Unlike many Comme des Garcons mainline collections, there is unusually detailed documentation of Kawakubo developing the season itself. In 2001, NHK was given access to her working process while filming a documentary that was broadcast in January 2002.
This is where it gets good! Plenty of archive & fashion sources attributed the season to "Dutch" or "peasant" costumes but that wasn't the case at all. During the section following the production of the Spring/Summer 2002 collection, Kawakubo simply explained that she felt tired and she wanted to move toward something "purer" and more mentally or spiritually “cleaner." In her words, "Well, when I say 'spiritual,' I mean the origin of humanity, or to put it simply, ethnic things, or the kind of spirituality found in people who live with their feet firmly on the ground." Her comments are significant because they provide rare contemporary insight into the collection’s theme rather than identifying one particular national costume or ethnic tradition as its source, as others have claimed.
As to why she does not explain any of her shows publicly, Kawakubo made it crystal clear. "If everyone understood it, it wouldn't be anything new , so let's say everyone said things like, 'Oh, that's great,' 'That was beautiful,' and 'It looks like it'll sell.' That makes me very anxious. Oh, I've created something that's so easy to understand, and now I'm filled with self-loathing. That's why the post-show evaluation is so complicated for me."
The NHK documentary also showed us her working method for the season. Rather than beginning with a completely resolved drawing and having it reproduced by a patternmaker, she described the pattern itself as part of the design, stating simply that "pattern equals design." Kawakubo explained that she did not always know exactly what the finished garment would become at the beginning of the process. This approach can be seen throughout SS02, where conventional garment structures were repeatedly altered or left deliberately ambiguous. Even the materials reflected her approach with the usage of calico (a material used for drafting and patternmaking) in numerous looks.
Seen on Look 17, we have two of these coveralls. One version in off white and round collar that's seen on the runway, and another in white and standard collar. Both feature a beautiful all over number print and a cinchable waist