When Comme des Garçons Shirt reached out to Dan Perjovschi about collaborating, the Romanian artist wasn’t familiar with the brand. His drawings – fractured words and figures rendered in thick black lines – have brought many opportunities his way, but something in this particular email caught his attention. What he wanted in return was neither money nor exposure: he said would only take part on the condition that his fee go, in full, to a children’s cancer hospital in Bucharest that he has funded for over a decade. “Great idea,” was the instant response from Adrian Joffe, president of Comme des Garçons International. “We’ll double the fee.”
The resulting collaboration was first presented at CDG Shirt’s SS26 runway show, then brought to its other home at Entrance, a concept store in Bucharest, as part of Bucharest Design Festival, where it hung alongside previous CDG collaborations, select runway looks, and the label’s storied archival print. There was no brief: Perjovschi sent 12 drawings, ten of which were used. His graphic wordplay – Love, World Hope, Hu(man)it(y), Tomorr(now) – is scattered like graffiti across cotton poplin and jersey, gingham and quilted olive, the letters resolving into the little figures that animate them. He had all but forgotten the project by the time he stumbled on a video of the show. “I’m usually a bit grumpy about how people use my drawings,” he admitted, “but this time – this is very, very cool."
