Comme des Garçons' hair artist shares his inspiration
Julien D'Ys offers an exclusive look into his studio and notebooks in line with the A/W 2021 Comme des Garçons show

Ilker Akyol - Photography
Chemistry is an essential element of any collaboration, but the partnership between Comme des Garçons' Rei Kawakubo and hair artist Julien D'Ys is something more akin to alchemy. For more than 30 years, the two artists, renowned for their individualistic visions, have unified to create some of the most remarkable spectacles in fashion – with very little conversation involved.
Sometimes, Kawakubo will share a single word with D'Ys, from which he'll build his elaborate designs. Last year, the word was ‘black'; another time it was ‘invisible'. For this year's Fall 2021 Ready-to-wear collection it was nothing at all. Often D'Ys doesn't even see the clothes until the day before the show when the bulk of his work is finished.
‘No word, no direction,' says D'Ys. ‘Like always with Rei. and I had to find her new ideas. I started with three drawings and sent them to her. Then she sent me back her favorite drawing and from there I had to find the right wigs.'
This year, the right wigs were a series of jet black mullets, with long straight hair in the back and a halo of spikes in the front. D'Ys inspiration was a visual mashup of 1970s England and Pre-Revolution France, dramatically different time periods united in their penchant for extravagant hair.
‘My idea was English hair cuts, kind of punk, Sex Pistols, and Bowie,' says D'Ys. ‘Then Mozart and the marvellous 18th century. I always like to mix different periods, past and future.'
Below, he offers us an exclusive look inside his New York studio in the days leading up to the latest Comme des Garçons show. The space is home to D'Ys wigs and his plethora of notebooks, which he fills with sketches, polaroids, poems, debris, anything that inspires him in the creation of his show designs.
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Mary Cleary is a writer based in London and New York. Previously beauty & grooming editor at Wallpaper*, she is now a contributing editor, alongside writing for various publications on all aspects of culture.
-
Dine within a rationalist design gem at the newly opened Cucina Triennale
Cucina Triennale is the latest space to open at Triennale Milano, a restaurant and a café by Luca Cipelletti and Unifor, inspired by the building's 1930s design
-
The collections you might have missed this S/S 2026 menswear season
Between the headliners in Paris, Milan and Florence, a few off-schedule displays are deserving of honourable mention – from Martine Rose’s sexually-charged portrait of Kensington Market to Sander Lak’s appointment-only namesake debut
-
Meet artist Michael McGregor, using hotel stationery as his canvas
Michael McGregor unveils an exclusive postcard set made with notepads from The Luxury Collection properties in Minneapolis, San Francisco and Savannah