Comme des Garçons Black and Silver Skirt

The interesting fact about this skirt is that its outside is not fabric in the ordinary sense. Polyester and cotton make up its interior, but the surface you see and touch is one hundred percent polyurethane, which is a cast or coated material rather than a woven one. That distinction is not academic: a woven cloth takes a pattern into its structure and a coated surface takes it onto its face, which is why a silver applied this way sits as a hard, continuous, slightly liquid brightness instead of as a thread catching light. The design is abstract and it moves across a long skirt as one field rather than as a repeat. Then the waistband tells you what the garment is for. Elastic, with a drawstring, and there are pockets in the side seams. A skirt made of a material this uncompromising had every excuse to be difficult to put on, and instead it is pulled on and tied. That combination, a hard surface over a soft waist, is the whole reason to own it.

Why we selected it

Most reflective clothing is built for one evening a year. A drawstring waist and pockets say this one was built to be worn, and that is a rarer combination than it should be.

The main line has always been as interested in what a garment is made of as in how it is cut, and a skirt whose surface is a coating rather than a cloth is that curiosity at its plainest.

Materials and construction

Exterior: one hundred percent polyurethane, carrying an abstract silver design. Interior: sixty-five percent polyester and thirty-five percent cotton. Made in Japan. Long cut, elastic waist with a drawstring, side pockets. Color: black and silver.

Fit notes

An elastic and drawstring waist accommodates a range rather than a measurement, so the waist is the least of your worries and the length is the thing to think about. A coated surface does not drape the way a woven skirt does; it holds its own shape a little and moves in larger, slower folds. It will not crease the way cloth creases, and it will not fall the way cloth falls.

Styling

With the Tank Top, since sequins and a coated surface return light in two different ways and the contrast is what makes them belong together. Under the Asymmetrical Blazer when the skirt needs a matte thing above it. Flat shoes, always.

Care

A coated surface is cleaned, not laundered. Wipe it down, keep it away from heat and from solvent, never put it in a machine or a dryer, and store it hanging with room around it rather than folded, because a fold pressed into a coating tends to stay. Our care guidance covers coated cloth specifically.

Related pieces

The Black and White Print Silk Skirt is a long skirt carrying an abstract print on silk. There is more on the house on the Comme des Garçons designer page. Everything we carry from Comme des Garçons is listed together.