“This is our world. We think this is beautiful. Join us if you feel the same.” Such was the spirit of ‘SIX’, launched by Comme des Garçons in 1988, pioneering a new approach to fashion publishing through art, photography and visual experimentation.
‘SIX’, the experimental magazine created by Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons, took its name from the sixth sense: an intuitive perception of the surreal, explored through photography and unexpected visual associations. Now, 35 years after its final issue, Dover Street Market London, the multi-brand concept store founded by Kawakubo and Adrian Joffe, presents an installation conceived by the designer, occupying its windows and ground floor for one month from October 13, coinciding with Frieze London.
Published across eight issues between 1988 and 1991, ‘SIX’ was distributed free to clients and fashion professionals. Designed by Tsuguya Inoue and edited by Atsuko Kozasu, its oversized pages largely dispensed with headlines and explanatory texts, bringing together photography, architecture, contemporary art and unexpected visual associations.
Its radicalism lay in this editorial freedom. Enlarged vegetables appeared alongside sculptural hats, while photographs by Karl Blossfeldt, Robert Frank and Peter Lindbergh shared space with images far removed from conventional fashion imagery. Clothes appeared only occasionally, inviting readers to explore the brand’s imagination through cultural references, intuition and subjective connections. Kawakubo brought to print a principle central to her creative practice: the possibility of developing ideas beyond established conventions.
The return of ‘SIX’ revisits that creative freedom. Throughout 2026, Comme des Garçons has brought archival material together with new photography selected by Kawakubo, including work by Jack Davison and Flor Garduño. Initially circulated as printed mailers, these compositions have subsequently taken physical form in installations in Paris, Tokyo and London.
Pics Courtesy of Comme des Garçons
This approach to publishing finds echoes in projects ranging from ‘Acne Paper’ by Acne Studios and Grace Wales Bonner’s zine ‘Everythings for Real’ to ‘Kiko in Heaven’ by Heaven by Marc Jacobs. The return of ‘SIX’ brings us back to the pioneering vision that helped establish fashion publishing as a creative practice in its own right.
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