Not I | Antifashion Edit

Come again?!

Apr 04, 2025

Welcome to the tenth edition of Not I, a wordless series appearing every Friday in which I share a curation of the pre-owned items currently on my personal favorites list. It’s style experimentation, deep-dive thrifting and instant fashion-universe expansion all wrapped up into one browsable unit. Read more about the idea behind it here.

Today: right after watching Olivier Nicklaus’s 2012 documentary Antifashion, I couldn’t help myself and started hunting down ‘80s/’90s/’00s Kawakubo, Yamamoto, Margiela, Lang, and Simons pieces. The documentary itself is so-so, mostly because of the “and then…” overkill. But still, what’s not to like about fuzzy VHS tape footage of early Martin Margiela shows (best enjoyed without voice-over) and interview snippets of Yamamoto’s soft-spoken ruminations about fashion’s life and death? “Fashion is fashion. It’s like air. We breathe air — naturally we’re influenced or polluted by it.” Or, said the unsuspecting Frenchman visiting Comme des Garçons’ first-ever Paris boutique: “How can something so unfinished cost so much?”

Thousands have gone before me in this hunt for Japanese-Belgian antifashion grails. By God, it’s basically The Archivist’s business model. Yet here I am sharing what caught my eye. I guess the only thing that speaks for my attempt is the refusal to completely succumb to re-sellers’ over-the-top, non-antifashion prices for vintage antifashion pieces. The paywall is out of place, of course. But it’ll be lifted before you can properly pronounce Ann Demeulemeester.

As a paid subscriber you have exclusive direct access. Every previous edition of Not I is archived here. Click the links to be redirected to the item’s page. If there’s anything you like that’s not available in/shipped to your area, please feel free to DM me.

COMME DES GARCONS - Linen Baggy Trousers