"Decadence" was the appropriate word. Imagine the last fashion show on the final night of Western civilization. Rei Kawakubo showed a collection that literally piled reference on reference like a mad last gasp, starting with the little poodle-y wig plopped on top of each model's head. She made some pretty incongruous connections : between denim and dense jacquard, between a U2 tee and a Lurex-threaded cutaway jacket, between tuxedos and pajamas, and on a bigger stage, between diametrically opposed cultures like Japan and China. That was the brocade-and-complex-pant subtext. And yet the shabby, silken languor of the clothes also put you in mind of palazzo-panted cocktails on the terrace of comedienne Lucille Ball's home in Beverly Hills on a lazy Sunday afternoon. In other words, the collection embraced a multitude of alternate realities. That has always been Rei Kawakubo's ineffable imprimatur. Here, she mushed the propriety of Edwardian England together with the sparkly tack of Vegas-as-mammon, then mixed in a handful of disciplinary mid-calf felted military coats. It made for a typically obtuse vision of cultural apocalypse. But there's an irresistible conviction to her vision. Very bobo chic.
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