Comme des Garçons Fringe Dress

The body of this dress is a tank: two straps, a scooped neck, no sleeve, no collar, and no fastening to negotiate. That is the least eventful shape a dress can be given, and the reason to give it is that everything then happens at the hem. The fringe is where the garment moves and where it catches light, and because there is nothing above it competing, the movement reads as the point rather than as a detail. Black throughout, so what you see is silhouette and motion rather than color. It is worth saying what a fringe made in polyester does that a fringe made in a natural fiber does not: a synthetic filament keeps its cut edge and its length, and it does not soften, mat, or wander the way a spun natural fiber will after a season of being sat on and walked in.

Why we selected it

We wanted a dress that could be put on without a decision and still be doing something. This one puts all of its design in one place and leaves the rest alone, which is a harder discipline than it looks.

The main line’s plainest cuts are usually where it is most exact, and Comme des Garçons has been locating the whole of a garment’s argument in a single edge since its first Paris collections.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent polyester. Made in Japan. Tank cut with a scooped neckline and a fringed hem. Color: black.

Fit notes

A tank dress hangs from the shoulder and is shaped nowhere else, so it is forgiving through the waist and the hip and it wants to be chosen for the shoulder and the neckline. The fringe adds visual length below the hem, so the dress reads longer than the body of it measures.

Styling

Flat shoes rather than a heel, since the hem is already the event. Under the Asymmetrical Blazer when the dress needs a hard edge over it. With the Cutout Sweater over the top for a version where two different kinds of opening are doing the work.

Care

Polyester is stable and washes easily, and the only real hazard is heat: a hot iron will glaze or melt a synthetic filament and there is no undoing it. Keep the iron cool, press through a cloth if you press at all, and give the fringe room to hang rather than folding it flat for long periods. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Pleated Column Dress is a long black dress that gets its movement from pleating rather than from a hem. Everything we carry from Comme des Garçons is listed together.