Daily Front Row

2012 December 7

Comme des Garçons's Latest NYC Store: Surprising Location

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Rei Kawakubo
Photo courtesy Comme des Garçons View Gallery

(NEW YORK) The hush-hush location of Comme des Garçons' Dover Street Market New York has finally been revealed. Rei Kawakubo is setting up shop at 160 Lexington Avenue by 30th Street. The new digs: A seven-story, 20,000 square-foot superstructure built in the early 1900s thanks to funding from John D. Rockefeller. Although previous tenants include the New York School of Applied Design for Women and Touro College, Kawakubo has other plans for the sprawling domain. The designer will house a combination of Comme des Garçons men's and women's alongside a slew of international brands.

Comme des Garçons' yet-to-be-launched shopping hub is the third iteration of Kawakubo's Dover Street Market stores. The first DSM boutique popped up in London in 2004; the second opened its doors in March in the department store-lined Ginza district in Tokyo. Since then, the Ginza store has produced 10 artist collaborations, setting the bar high for its Western counterpart.

Currently, Comme des Garçons' retail network in the big apple consists of one store, which opened in Soho in 1983 and relocated to its present location in Chelsea in 1999. DSM New York is slated to open in December 2013.
MARIA DENARDO