Retail Therapy: Hermès + Comme des Garçons

Rei Kawakubo is keeping busy this year. Aside from opening a New York outpost of her retail emporium Dover Street Market (set to bow in the coming months), the design maverick behind Comme des Garçons has collaborated with Hermès on two collections of silk scarves—or carrés, as they are better known. Called Comme des Carrés, the limited-edition designs, which hit CdG stores this week, cleverly morph motifs from both houses: A marine print from the 1950s is superimposed with polka-dots; an equestrian pattern from the 1970s is covered with a black chessboard. “I was looking forward to the change that would happen when I added something to the beautiful paintings of Hermès scarf designs,” noted Kawakubo in a press release. “Through the addition of abstract images, we have created something new.”