Deconstruction as Ceremony

Rei Kawakubo opens SS26 under the banner "Not Suits, But Suits", a paradox that sums up the mood: challenging tradition while invoking it. The show feels ritualistic, summoned by an urgent need for transformation in a troubled world. Kareem phrases around "needing someone powerful like a shaman" to lead us toward peace, love, fraternity punctuate what otherwise might become pure visual spectacle. The collection isn't about rejecting suit tailoring—it’s about rethinking what a suit can be.

Kawakubo deconstructs tailoring from within: jackets with exaggerated, balloon-hips; trousers with unexpected zips or ruffled patches; expanded lapels; coat-tails that spill like skirts; fits that shift mid-look from structured to free. It's not chaos for chaos's sake—there are moments of precision, referencing Savile Row, classic 20th-century cut, but these are shadows, skeletons to be toyed with, stretched, reshaped.

One of the most interesting devices is movement of proportion: slim drainpipe legs juxtaposed with voluminous jackets; sleeves peeling away; collars doubled or flipped; tailoring panels splitting to reveal unexpected underlying textures. The suit becomes both armor and stage prop.

The palette begins in muted, sober tones—greys, deep blues, off-whites—serving as canvas for Kawakubo's signature insurgent touches: bursts of metallic, floral prints with ruffled perimeters, patches of brightness that feel like fractures in a strict form. Texture plays a major role: raw hems, heavy topstitching, layered knits over suiting fabric, zipper splits that reveal less structured underlayers.

Also notable are the alterations: zippers that uncloak, sleeves that become parts of florals, pockets oversized, shapes inflated or deflated mid-look—these are disruptions that call attention to what clothing is doing, not just what it is. The contrast between polish and rough edge is Kawakubo's dialectic here.

From reports, the show's atmosphere blends spectacle with meditation. It pulses with protest, yes, but also with imagination—asking what sartorial identity can offer in times of social fracture. The title "Not Suits, But Suits" insists that what a suit has been is not what it must always be. It is both constraint and expression. Kawakubo seems to suggest that tradition can shelter, but also that it can suffocate, and that clothing might need to both protect and provoke.

There is tension between the new and the familiar: clothing shapes we think we know, remixed; structures that are references rather than replicas. The emotional arc moves from constraint toward release—more layer, more exposing, more unusual silhouette, more anomaly.

Kawakubo's ability to take one of fashion's most rigid symbols—the suit—and wring new meaning from it. The collection disrupts the form without losing respect for what tailoring can do. The balance of conceptual daring with craftsmanship. Even deconstructed pieces have enough structure, enough polish, that they feel carefully considered rather than purely rebellious. This isn't just fashion as image—it feels like fashion as idea, reflection, critique, and vision.

Many of the more dramatic forms, extremes in proportion or cut, will likely remain editorial pieces rather than everyday clothing. That may be fine, but it limits how broadly the collection's lessons translate. The more fracturing and layered the silhouette, the higher the risk of losing impact—some looks may feel visually dense rather than powerfully disruptive. Lighting, photography, styling will affect whether details like topstitching, raw edges, or texture show clearly. Subtlety in this collection is at risk of being lost if not captured with care.

Comme des Garçons SS26 Not Suits, But Suits stands as another proof of Rei Kawakubo's enduring capacity to unsettle and reinvent. The show is both critique and flourish: of what power looks like when defined by presence, by distortion, by the re-imagining of rigid forms.

It's not a show that comforts. It forces you to question: What does structure protect us from? What happens when we pull at edges? How can clothing be both shield and statement? It is, then, both armor and art. And in its contradictions, it finds its power.