A Radical Beginning
The name Comme des Garçons instantly conjures visions of asymmetry, deconstruction, and bold defiance against fashion norms. At the heart of this iconic brand lies Rei Kawakubo, a visionary designer whose influence has reshaped contemporary Comme Des Garcons fashion. Since its inception in 1969 and its Paris debut in 1981, Comme des Garçons has consistently challenged the conventions of beauty, form, and functionality. Rei Kawakubo’s approach to fashion is more than design—it’s a conceptual, often philosophical, confrontation with the industry itself.
Born in Tokyo in 1942, Kawakubo didn’t originally set out to become a designer. She studied fine arts and literature at Keio University, majoring in aesthetics—a background that would later deeply inform her design philosophy. After working in advertising, she found her way into fashion almost unintentionally, launching Comme des Garçons in 1969. The name, meaning “like boys” in French, foreshadowed her lifelong disruption of gender norms and traditional silhouettes.
The Shock of the New
Comme des Garçons’ 1981 Paris debut was a watershed moment in fashion history. The collection—often referred to as “Hiroshima chic” by confused or derisive critics—featured black, tattered fabrics, unconventional draping, and asymmetrical forms. The response was polarizing. Critics were either baffled or electrified. Kawakubo had introduced a new visual language that defied everything the Western fashion establishment held dear: perfection, symmetry, sex appeal, and luxury.
Where others saw destruction or bleakness, Kawakubo saw beauty in imperfection and conceptual depth. Her work invited audiences to reconsider their relationship with clothing. It wasn’t just about adorning the body—it was about distorting, disguising, and abstracting it. She presented fashion as a form of intellectual expression rather than mere consumer product.
Deconstruction as Design
One of Kawakubo’s most enduring legacies is her pioneering role in deconstructionist fashion. Long before the term became common in design vocabulary, she was already tearing apart garments and reassembling them into strange, poetic forms. A missing sleeve, an exposed seam, or a misaligned shoulder were not accidents—they were integral to the garment’s meaning.
This philosophy was not rooted in shock for its own sake, but rather in the belief that beauty could emerge from brokenness. By emphasizing imperfection, Kawakubo invited people to challenge their assumptions. In a world obsessed with symmetry and polish, she offered vulnerability and rawness. Her work was not easily wearable in the conventional sense—but that was the point. Comme des Garçons demanded active engagement and rethinking from its audience.
The Business of Art
Though deeply avant-garde, Comme des Garçons has also thrived commercially—a rare feat in the world of high-concept fashion. This duality is one of the brand’s most fascinating contradictions. It produces high-fashion runway pieces that often resemble wearable sculptures while also running a successful global business with numerous lines, including Play, SHIRT, and collaborations with mass-market retailers like H&M and Converse.
Kawakubo’s business acumen is often overlooked, but it is integral to the brand’s survival. She has fostered an ecosystem where creativity is paramount, but commercial success is not taboo. This balance is further exemplified in Dover Street Market, the curated concept store she co-founded with her husband Adrian Joffe. These spaces operate more like curated art galleries than retail shops, featuring rotating installations, collaborations with emerging designers, and a seamless blend of fashion, art, and commerce.
A Language of Her Own
Kawakubo’s work is famously elusive. She rarely explains her collections, and interviews are infrequent, often cryptic. This silence only heightens the mystique. Each runway show becomes a riddle, an open-ended question rather than a statement. Her collections often have themes—like “lumps and bumps,” “invisibility,” or “the future of silhouettes”—but the interpretation is always left to the audience.
In an age where brand storytelling is packaged and social media narratives dominate, Kawakubo’s opacity is refreshing. She doesn’t cater to market trends or Instagram aesthetics. Instead, she cultivates an aura of mystery, allowing the clothing to speak in abstract, often contradictory ways. The result is a body of work that resists commodification and categorization, even as it exists within the framework of global commerce.
Fashion as a Space for Thought
To understand Comme des Garçons is to view fashion not just as adornment, but as a space for intellectual and emotional exploration. Kawakubo has addressed themes ranging from gender identity and mortality to political unrest and existential anxiety—all through fabric, cut, and form. In doing so, she has elevated fashion to a form of conceptual art.
Her 2017 retrospective at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, titled Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between, was a rare honor—she was the first living designer since Yves Saint Laurent to be the subject of a solo show at the museum. The exhibit emphasized dualities central to her work: design and not-design, fashion and anti-fashion, beautiful and ugly. It was not a chronological review, but a philosophical exploration. Fittingly, Kawakubo did not want to include explanatory text. She wanted the audience to experience the work without the mediation of language.
The Power of Resistance
At its core, Comme des Garçons is a brand built on resistance—against norms, simplicity, binaries, and complacency. In a world increasingly dominated by fast fashion and algorithm-driven aesthetics, Kawakubo’s slow, deliberate, and often uncomfortable design process is a radical act. She has built a legacy not on consensus, but on confrontation. Her Comme Des Garcons Hoodie work is often difficult, even ugly, but therein lies its truth and integrity.
Kawakubo doesn’t design for the masses; she designs to challenge the masses. And yet, her influence permeates mainstream fashion in ways both obvious and subtle. The oversized silhouettes, raw hems, gender-fluid designs, and intellectual runway shows we see today owe much to her unrelenting vision.
Legacy and the Future
Now in her 80s, Rei Kawakubo shows no sign of slowing down. She continues to design every Comme des Garçons collection, remaining intimately involved in the brand’s aesthetic direction. Meanwhile, she has nurtured a new generation of designers—such as Junya Watanabe and Kei Ninomiya—under the Comme des Garçons umbrella, ensuring that her legacy of risk-taking and innovation will endure.
But perhaps Kawakubo’s greatest contribution is not any single garment or collection. It is the idea that fashion can be a tool for questioning, for pushing boundaries, for exploring what it means to be human. In her world, clothing is not about conformity—it’s about courage.