Of all the primary characters within the Comme des Garçons clan, Tao Kurihara is the identify we hear the least. Her label, Tao, shuttered in 2011—she stopped displaying in Paris, and as an alternative was set to work on the Comme des Garçons Tricot line. Then, in 2021, with nothing greater than a whisper, Tricot was rebranded into Tao, and the designer’s eponymous label was revived. For the previous few seasons now, Tao has been holding off-schedule exhibits in Tokyo and presenting her bric-a-brac finery to a small personal viewers in a windowless room on the seventh flooring of CDG’s Aoyama headquarters. How deliciously mysterious. And the way very Comme.

This newest outing—held early on a Wednesday morning—unfolded as a parade of white, damaged up with an inky splash of black within the center. The non-color palette served to point out off Kurihara’s mastery for texture, which is invariably a feast for the eyes. Ivory cottons and cream lace have been folded like paper, ruched daintily on the shoulders and waist, or scrunched into crumpled corsages that swirled across the physique. Broderie anglaise dotted girlish tops, together with white argyle, floral lace, and quilting that rippled throughout skirts and trapeze coats, whereas pom-poms bobbed up and down on the toes of sneakers.

The cutesy and overtly female framework that Tao operates inside—or “the coquette aesthetic” because it has now been categorized on-line—has been some of the notable tendencies in womenswear recently. However Tao’s tackle it feels completely different; she wields her bows and whistles in such a approach that the impact is of safety, slightly than ornament.

sIn distinction with Rei Kawakubo, who this season known as her assortment Anger, Tao named hers Happiness. Very completely different feelings, however Tao clearly takes after the CDG matriarch together with her knack for lofty idea garments that, to the proper individuals, will probably be completely saleable. Shortly after the present ended, Tao herself appeared on the ground beneath, dragging alongside a half-dressed model to prepared it for the showroom. Stopping briefly, she mentioned that the message behind the gathering was easy. “All of us want some extra happiness.” After which, again to work.