Tao Kurihara’s shows, which are held first thing in the morning in the bowels of the Comme des Garçons headquarters in Aoyama, have become something of a late-season treat.
MY TRUE SELF was the title the designer had chosen for this season, intended as an expression of purity and freedom, and told through white. We started with layers of broderie anglaise and complications of doilies, with lace-laden coats and dresses giving the surreal sense that they were transforming into curtains and tablecloths, before moving into a chapter of gray tailoring. More white, before we landed on a cacophony of floral details and Liberty-esque prints on cotton capris and ruffled skirts.
The models’ cloud-like hair was topped with straw and foliage, their clothes decorated with botanical embroidery in collaboration with artist Hitomi Mori (whose work is worth seeing up close on Instagram @nuimori1). The music—which as usual was composed by Kurihara’s husband—featured a mix of harps, birdsong, and the plink of a piano, adding to the storybook whimsy that Tao is known for.
In the CDG press room afterwards, which for the next few days is holding its seasonal exhibition of all the house’s brands, Kurihara was characteristically cheery. “I decided to just set aside all of my concerns and just create something I truly, purely wanted to make. How should I put it? It’s like when a child draws a picture, they aren’t thinking about wanting to be praised. It’s that kind of mindset, a state of total, genuine focus,” she said. “Saying this might make it sound like my previous work wasn’t like that, but this time I really felt I distilled everything down to just what I purely, from the bottom of my heart, wanted to create.”
To Kurihara’s credit, the collection wasn’t mired in sentimentality or nostalgia. It simply was. Even so, creativity and commerciality needn’t be mutually exclusive, as Rei Kawakubo has long instilled in her proteges. Mori’s artwork, difficult to produce at scale, was magnified and printed onto dresses and T-shirts—all the better to share it with the world.