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CommeDesGarcons 1996 Convertible Padded RedRoseJacquard & NavyCotton Skirt Cape

About the Item

In 1996, Japanese Junya Wantanabe made this sculptural red whorled-rose jacquard padded evening coat/jacket cape to convert to an equally stunning asymmetrical A-line or symmetrical narrow skirt, while he was being groomed in the mid-1990s as a Comme des Garcons designer with his own line curated by its founding designer/owner Rei Kawakubo. This optionally neck-worn garment is as transfiguring as the one by Wantanabe (b.1961) that TheMet museum featured on the cover of its 2001 publication "Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed". Like haute-couture, Wantanabe's innovative cutting, complex paneled construction, and reinforced stitches enable the two channeled pointy appendages of the garment to create unique draping in multiple ways and to be repeatedly retied to secure different silhouettes without deformity. When tied at the neck into a cocoon-like poncho, the top can be either a boatneck or a double v-neck. When otherwise tied at the waist as one of two skirt silhouettes, the waistline can be either horizontal or v-shaped. When zipped with hook fastening, the top opening of the garment for neck or waist is 25 inches. The womenswear size is a Japanese "S" for international-size small, which will easily fit a U.S.-size 6. As evidence of the designer's ingenious sourcing of synthetic and modern textiles, the woven rose pattern of the damask is both textured and shiny that results in reflections of warm colors ranging from cherry-red to brown. Rounding out the distinctly Japanese color-palette with a traditional material, matte navy cotton lining is visible at the edges of the top and bottom, while concealing padding that adds to the garment's volume and softens the drape. Recently dry-cleaned, it is ready for the buyer to wear.
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