Tao S/S 2010 / PFW / Day four

Of the main designers in the Comme des Garçons fold, Tao Kurihara is the carefree one. She routinely brings levity and girlish charm to her group’s cerebral goings-on, and spring’s playful punk was a prime example. By now, punk is a well-worn genre full of clichés, and, whether in irony or earnest, Kurihara indulged in all of them: pirate stripes, studs, chains, Mohawks, everything torn up. Yet she managed to do something new. Specifically, the exquisite dresses and skirts made of fabrics elaborately knotted into patterns for a harness effect were not only marvels of construction but, done in shimmery silver tulle and lace, a sweet take on bondage. The approach also applied to leggings made of pointelle cotton that wound up the legs.

For all the pretty punk — the strawberry prints sure were cute — this rebellious youth was also a little naughty, an angle the designer worked with sheer layered pieces that left little to the imagination. And if bad taste was what Kurihara was after, she made it look pretty good.









































© by WWD / Photos by Dominique Maitre