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Comme des Garcons

Opening Hours
Today: 11am–6pm
Sat:
11am–6pm
Sun:
12–5pm
Mon:
11am–6pm
Tues:
11am–6pm
Wed:
11am–6pm
Thurs:
11am–6pm
Location
520 West 22nd Street
Comme des Garcons 1 Women's Clothing Mens Clothing Art Gallery District Chelsea

Rei Kawakubo’s internationally-acclaimed, Tokyo-based clothing line for men and women has its own, fantastically designed storefront in the art gallery district of Chelsea. The store itself and the clothing inside are so unique, aesthetically precise, and avant-garde that it all constitutes art in itself, helping it to fit appropriately as a store amongst the elegant galleries. The space, an irregular labyrinth of futuristic, curved white walls, is entered through a long, fluted metal tube that punctures a brightly colored, graffiti-covered brick wall. Once inside, racks of delicately designed pieces of clothing-art hang in and around large gold geometric structures. To Manhattan Sideways member Megan, many of the articles sported by the saleswomen or draped over hangers bore a resemblance to something Lady Gaga may have worn. Because Kawakubo’s collection includes work by several designers, no two pieces are alike, making it truly an adventure to peruse.

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Comme des Garcons 1 Women's Clothing Mens Clothing Art Gallery District Chelsea

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The Pen and Brush

“We come together on the common ground of arts, letters, and women owning their own destinies, ” stated Executive Director Dawn Delikat. For well over a century, Pen and Brush has been dedicated to supporting women in the visual arts and literature. The organization was founded by two sisters and painters, Janet and Mimi Lewis, who were frustrated with being barred from art societies solely on the basis of their gender. Knowing of so many talented women suffering a similar fate, the siblings decided to create Pen and Brush to “stop asking for permission and forge their own way in the city. ”Though the group was nomadic for thirty years, it was able to purchase its first location in 1923. Decades later in the early 1960s, the ladies celebrated paying off their mortgage by dressing in their finest ballgowns and burning the contract in the fireplace. “Women persevering is as much of our understory as anything else. ” The organization carries the torch passed down by these remarkable women, whose members include First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and a number of Nobel laureates. Today, Pen and Brush’s goal remains the same, albeit adapted to twenty-first-century circumstances. As such, it makes space for both women and non-binary voices — better reflecting our evolving conceptions of the gender spectrum — and works to bring in the diversity that has been kept out of the canon “not for lack of talent, but for lack of access. ” To this end, Pen and Brush functions as an art gallery and a book publisher, where visual artists and writers from across the world can submit their work. The group evaluates submissions, seeking pieces “that need to be supported, ” either for expressing something that has not been said before or for demonstrating an incredibly high skill level. This has meant giving career-making opportunities to veteran artists looking to break the glass ceiling of their field, gifted students just out of an MFA program, and self-taught artists who received no formal introduction to the art world. Achieving true equality in the arts and letters may seem a daunting task, but Pen and Brush is tireless in its mission to give a platform to brilliant women and non-binary creators. “We can’t give up on them. We have to build into the future so that we can keep passing that torch, so maybe someday, it won’t be needed. ”