Jeans on the Comme des Garçons runway ?

Rei Kawakubo, who usually reaches for opulent brocades, satins, lace and the like for her most experimental collection, tried her hand with more humble, everyday fabrics for spring, notably denim, including railroad and pinstriped versions, plus cotton gabardine.

They made her bulging, sculptural creations — snowman, violin and guitar shapes among them — no less imposing, especially since nearly every model’s head was topped with a tall fabric crown.

“When royal life and everyday life become one,” was her one-line explanation.

Knowing this, it made you think about what different fabrics, embellishments and silhouettes signal – and which of these elements has the most potency.

You couldn’t get around the intimidating scale of her dresses: Models had to turn sideways and bump skirts when they passed on the narrow runway. Despite the abstract, outsized shapes, you could discern iterations on the trench coat, bomber and puffer jacket.

The sturdy, plain fabrics diminished the usual prettiness of Kawakubo’s clothes. But sheltered in the fissures of these garments, lining their appendages or splayed over the bulging skirts came the embellishments: gold braiding and passementerie, and hair, each element somehow evoking ceremonial dress.

Bifurcating one of the pinstriped looks were blistered protrusions in red and white, resembling guts spilling out. It made you wince.

But she ended the show on a lighter note, swapping out crowns for foil domes that brought finished Jiffy Pop pans to mind and parading her supersized version of denim shorts, barrel pants and wide-legged jeans, the cuffs dragging on the floor. You might call them 5,001s.