While these sleeves have no label, they were designed by Comme des Garçons. They were an early addition to Gene Sherman's wearing wardrobe and refelect her individual style and appreciation of avant-garde Japanese design.
Rei Kawakubo (born 1942) , the founder of Comme des Garçons is widely acknowledged one of the world's most original and influential fashion designers. After studying literature and fine arts at Keio University, she worked for several years in advertising before establishing her own clothing label, 'Comme des Garçons' (Like some boys') in Japan in 1973.
Although initially using monochromatic black as her signature, Kawakubo introduced colour into later collections which, combined with daring and unexpected combinations of textures and patterns, have become her hallmarks. Comme des Garçons garments are generally layered, asymmetrical, unstructured and sometimes padded. She introduced new approaches to cutting and constructing fabrics, often incorporating rips, holes and frayed seams.
Dr Gene Sherman is Director of Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) in Paddington, Sydney. Its predecessor, Sherman Galleries, founded in 1986, was one of Australia's major commercial art galleries, until it closed in 2007. As director of Sherman Galleries, Dr Sherman organised many exhibitions of contemporary art from Australia and the Asia-Pacific region and has played an important role connecting art and artists in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Dr Gene Sherman was a trustee of the Powerhouse Museum from 1995 to 2001 and special advisor to the Museum from 2002 to 2004. Born in South Africa, Sherman lives in Sydney with her husband Brian Sherman.
Made by Comme Des Garçons, for the 1994 Spring / Summer collection.
Information provided by Comme Des Garçons Co. Ltd 25/2/09: "94 Spring Summer. Collection theme: Eccentric".
Dr Gene Sherman has been collecting avant-garde Japanese fashion for more than 20 years. Dr Sherman bought her first pieces of Japanese clothing at Rhonda Parry's boutique in Double Bay in the mid 1980s. Since then, she has primarily worn clothes designed by Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. Gene Sherman maintains a wearing wardrobe of approximately 20 pieces. She has said "when I acquire something, I retire a piece into my archive". Sherman had boxes made to museum standards and store 'retired' pieces from the collection in her attic.
Referring to this pari of sleeves Gene Sherman has said: "Grey sleeves (detachable), possibly by Comme des Garçons. Worn regularly over a period. Pre-dated shrugs. Early acquisition. Entry 18/3/03". (Gene Sherman collection note book 2009/16/62)
"This was a wonderful pair of sleeves... I think they are Comme but I don't know for sure....: I wore them often - as sleeves. In fact I have something else like this which I bought recently - but not nearly as good. I just slipped them into my arms with the cuffs at the wrists and then tied them across the back. They were not brilliantly comfortable in the sense that they didn't always sit as snugly as perhaps they should have. I had a little trouble keeping them in place. This is one of the fashion acquisitions I decided to suffer for in terms style … I wasn't actually suffering of course. They didn't hurt me - but they were a little apt to move because the tie loosens over the course of the wearing time." "I probably wore them with a very thin long-sleeved top and then one or other of the black skirts. They are more casual - but I would have worn them for evening as well …." (Interview with Gene Sherman by Claire Roberts, 15 December 2008)
The donor purchased the object in Tokyo.
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