Punk and military are themes that Rei Kawakubo has returned to repeatedly, and it’s the latter she leaned on for her Fall 1994 “Metamorphosis” collection. The strongest and most recognizable looks from this show were the shrunken boiled wool military jackets paired with voluminous skirts, worn by a model army including Cecilia Chancellor, Christy Turlington, and Cordula Reyer.
The presentation opened with silvered looks, including aprons that had a workwear vibe, but there were also slip dresses worn with deconstructed jackets, and trapper hats and fur shtreimel hats. Of particular note were the looks featuring lumpen rolls of boiled wool. The unusual protuberances presaged Kawakubo’s controversial-at-the-time, and now-much-acclaimed Fall 1997 collection, officially titled “Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body,” but more usually referred to as the “lumps and bumps” show.
