The Untold Story Behind Comme des Garçons’s “Sisters” Campaign Unfolds in a Stunning New Book
In 1988, Comme des Garçons revealed a remarkable Fall campaign, far ahead of its time. There were no clothes to speak of—certainly, no Comme—and no supermodels. Instead, it showed two young girls on the cusp of adolescence with unbrushed hair and braces, throwing their heads back in laughter. Brimming with human emotion, it stuck in the minds of countless young creatives, many of whom guide fashion today.
One such individual is Isabella Burley, editor in chief of Dazed & Confused, who loved the image so much, she spoke of it to AnOther magazine for Valentine’s Day in 2014. To her surprise, she received an email out of the blue from its photographer Jim Britt on October 4 of that year—Subject: Hello—offering to send a print. “What was so strange for me was that I was so familiar with that Comme campaign image,” Burley says, “but I’d never thought about the photographer behind it, what was the set-up, what was the story behind the making of this image.” Thus began a digital friendship that has now manifested as Sisters by Jim Britt, 1976, a new book edited and published by Burley, filled with unseen outtakes and interviews that reveal their history.
The images in question were shot in 1976 at the Britts’ Los Angeles home, where Jim, armed with his LeicaM3, fastidiously documented the lives of his girls, Jody and Melendy “Mimi” Britt—sisters born one year, one week, and one day apart. Against a plain white wall between their living and dining rooms, the girls, then 12 and 11, gamely sat for an unplanned photo shoot with their father. They wore tube tops and shorts, (“Our go-to look in the ’70s,” Melendy shares) and a treasured pair of cloisonné necklaces bought at a small West Hollywood boutique—a rainbow for Jody, a moon for Melendy. On a whim, they decided to mimic the practiced hauteur of the models they saw in magazines. Yet given the reality of the situation—crouched in their hallway, braces glinting in the light—they couldn’t repress a burst of laughter, which were the precious few seconds Jim knew to capture on film.
Flipping through the book’s 24 pages, one is struck by the unfiltered joy on display. “There’s such an emotional connection to that image for so many different reasons,” Burley says. “Memories of wearing braces, a bond with a sibling, that adolescent phase we all went through when you look so awkward in your own skin. That whole feeling resonates with so many people.” No wonder that the series was snapped up time and again: First by People in October 1984, then of course Comme in 1988, and by Burley for a one-page Dazed feature in 2014. “It was such a shame we’d only run two of those extra outtakes in print,” she says—hence the book. “These images were so deserving of being seen, and that story so deserving of being told more in-depth.”
The first 100 of 500 total copies will launch at Dover Street Market New York on September 6, where Britt and Burley will be in attendance. Each limited-edition booklet will come wrapped in a clear PVC vinyl sleeve and include a double-sided poster of the original Comme photo and thumbnail-size outtakes. The poster was particularly important to Burley. “It speaks to the fandom of that image and how many people would have dragged it off their computer screens, saved it in a reference image folder, moved from a USB stick to a hard drive, hoping to hang it in their bedroom,” she says. Now, they can.
Sisters by Jim Britt, 1976 is available at sisterswithbraces.com; the first 100 copies will launch at Dover Street Market New York on September 6, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. with a special signing by Jim Britt.
