Analysis of Luxury Brands and Collaboration of Artists

Introduction

The chosen twenty-eight luxury brand and artist collaborations are analyzed in this section. Each of them varies in the type of product, type of art, and type of collaboration. The chosen collaborations are different from each other in some way or other, which allowed for different aspects to be considered while creating the model. Each one has takeaway points that summarize different aspects of success or failure, and it played a major role in developing the key ingredients.

Comme des Garcons x Cindy Sherman

In 1994, Comme des Garcon, a Japanese brand collaborated with photographer and film director, Cindy Sherman, who is known for her conceptual portraits.

This collaboration broke virtually every rule of fashion photography at that time. (Dazed, 2015). These “anti-fashion” photographs’ effects are shocking, particularly when viewed in the light of conventional fashion photography. However, they are not out of place in the context of Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo’s approach to fashion design, which is strongly inspired by the values of the contemporary art world.

Kawakubo’s theme is “to start from zero,” by reexamining clothes as if the entire history of costume did not exist. Both Kawakubo as a fashion designer and Sherman as an artist have used their work to question assumptions of what constitutes self-presentation. (Grey Art Gallery).

In 1993, Kawakubo contacted Sherman after seeing her work with Vogue and provided her with clothing from each of the Comme des Garçons collections, to be photographed however Sherman wished. The direct-mail campaign of Comme des Garçon’s autumn/winter 1994–95 collection consisted of these photographs and was then displayed in the brand’s SoHo boutique.

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“In the context of Kawakubo’s destabilizing approach to the established way of doing business in the fashion industry, her collaboration with Cindy Sherman, whose work also undermines the “reality” of particular images, seems almost predestined. The two are well-matched in the paradoxical nature of their endeavors. Sherman is a noncommercial artist whose work welcomes and converses with commercial appropriation. Kawakubo manages a financial empire in the most commercial of industries while rigorously impressing an artistically informed sensibility on all of her products.” – Grey art NYU Gallery.

Take away

From the beginning of their career, the artist and designer’s belief systems were similar, in that, they wanted to break societal norms and bring attention to an unnoticed problem in the standards of self-presentation. The collaboration left a social statement that said, there doesn’t have to be a certain way of dressing and Comme de Garçon is a brand that will cater to those customers. Even after 24 years, over 200,000 articles have mentioned this collaboration. This collaboration blurred the line between art and fashion and yet reinforces both the brand’s and artist’s identity. It was a commercial campaign that lead to successful sales. (Dazed, 2015). It was visible worldwide through direct mail (select customers) and when placed in the store it became a mode of invitation for aspiring and experimental customers. The selected customers (the fashion influencer & loyal clients) were the right choice to spread the word and create awareness. It set the trend in the way people dress and see themselves, which is still a topic people debate today. The campaign did not use the brand’s clothing to sell the collection but rather used a message to sell the clothing. The collaboration is less cost-intensive as the only aspects were direct e-mail, store display, and the artist’s fee. It launched at the right time as the next generation was open-minded and willing to experiment. The artist was the sole creator without the interruption from the brand, as there were understanding and trust between both collaborators.

Rei Kawakubo x Merce Cunningham

This collaboration led to the creation of extraordinary costumes that Comme des Garçons’ founder Rei Kawakubo fashioned for choreographer Merce Cunningham’s 1997 dance Scenario. This collaboration is unique in a way as the artist, Cunningham, approached Kawakubo to create costumes for Scenario, his dance show. She had initially declined but changed her mind while creating her infamous spring/summer 1997 Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body collection, which insiders later dubbed the “lumps and bumps” show. She accepted the collaboration due to her frustration that fashion was very dull, and she needs to break it down and build it from scratch, which is generally her design style.

Like the runway pieces, the costumes she made for Scenario also featured, down padding that formed irregular bulges on the dancers’ hips, shoulders, chests, and backs. The garments altered the performers’ proportions and sense of their bodies as well as their balance and spatial relations to each other, radically affecting movement itself.