In the world of fashion, there are names that redefine the very concept of what fashion can be. Rei Kawakubo and her brand Comme des Gar&ccedil;ons belong to this category of revolutionaries who break down established notions of beauty, functionality, and the very nature of clothing.

In 1969, when the world was undergoing a cultural revolution, a young Japanese woman founded a brand in Tokyo with the French name Comme des Gar&ccedil;ons, meaning &ldquo;like boys.&rdquo; The name became a manifesto: Rei Kawakubo created clothes for women who did not want to sacrifice mobility and comfort to conform to other people's ideas of femininity. It is no coincidence that the designer never created high-heeled shoes or forced models to wear them at fashion shows.

The brand name, according to many, was chosen not only for philosophical reasons, but also because of the melodiousness of its French pronunciation. However, the essence remains the same: clothing for independent women who do not dress to seduce or gain male approval.

THE BRAND NAME

In the late 1970s, Kawakubo's professional life became intertwined with a romantic relationship with Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto. Both debuted with separate collections in Paris in 1981 and instantly shocked the press and critics. Their clothes were dark, oversized, and asymmetrical, clashing with the lines of the human body. Kawakubo's debut collection was provocatively named &ldquo;Hiroshima Chic,&rdquo; which immediately sparked heated debate in fashion circles. The press dubbed the Japanese designers' work &ldquo;anti-fashion,&rdquo; emphasizing its radical opposition to the trends of the golden age of the 1980s. Together with Issey Miyake, they were recognized as Japan's most innovative stylists.

LOVE STORY

Art as a communication strategy
Kawakubo has always understood the power of visual language. Among her most famous collaborations for advertising campaigns are her work with contemporary artist and performance artist Cindy Sherman, as well as graphic works by Collier Schorr. These partnerships went far beyond conventional advertising, becoming artistic statements.

The Spring/Summer 1997 collection, entitled &ldquo;Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body&rdquo;, became a true manifesto of Kawakubo's experimental approach. The designer presented a series of dresses and outfits with body deformations and protrusions. Checkered shift dresses reimagined the architecture of clothing, adding padding to analyze the space between the body and the garment. It was a real blow to the fashion system, demonstrating the Japanese designer's passion for experimentation.

The body as a canvas

&ldquo;Our task is to question conventions. If we don't take risks, who will?&rdquo; &mdash; Rei Kawakubo.

SIX
In 1988, the brand launched its own magazine, Six, whose name referred to the exploration of the sixth sense. The publication, curated by Kawakubo herself with the participation of editor Atsuko Kozasu and art director Tsuguy Inoue, presented the Japanese brand's vision through the work of international artists and photographers.
The pages of Six featured the names of great masters of photography: Peter Lindbergh, Bruce Weber, Dino Buzzati, and Salvador Dal&iacute;. The magazine closed in 1991 but has since become a cult object for collectors.

The brand's first fragrance appeared in 1994, and since then, each new fragrance has been an opportunity for experimentation. Comme des Gar&ccedil;ons perfumers play with essences of tar, rubber, gunpowder, ink, and nail polish. Among the most experimental creations are the fragrance Series 6 Synthetic: Garage, rich in aldehydes and dissonant notes that transport you to a car repair shop, and the perfume Andy Warhol's You're In, inspired by the original citrus scents Andy Warhol used for his 1967 work.

Fragrances as a continuation of aesthetics

At Comme des Gar&ccedil;ons shows, hairstyles are studied as an extension of clothing. Ray Kawakubo's loyal collaborator Julien D'Is creates sculptural hairstyles from distorted wigs, often supported by metal wire, structures, or recycled materials.

Sculptural hairstyles as an extension of clothing

Dover Street Market: retail as curation
Kawakubo is also known as the founder of Dover Street Market, together with her husband, British designer Adrian Joffe. This project can be described as a CdG department store or concept store, more like a creative hub. Originally created in 2004 on Dover Street in London, today DSM has locations in Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, New York, Los Angeles, and most recently in Paris. It is a multi-brand store featuring emerging brands and talents selected by the founder, who has a distinct aesthetic vision of visual marketing and display.

Chromatic evolution: from black to rainbow
Rei Kawakubo's first collections were entirely black, then this absolute color became an indispensable foundation for all her palettes. However, throughout her creative journey and the brand's history, the designer has also experimented with red shades, as in the Roses and Blood spring-summer 2015 show, and with monochrome whites for the White Drama spring-summer 2012 and The Ceremony of Separation fall-winter 2015 collections, captured by photographer Paolo Roversi.

Triumph in the temple of art
In 2017, the MET Costume Institute explored the work and career of Rei Kawakubo through the Comme des Gar&ccedil;ons collections. The exhibition &ldquo;Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Gar&ccedil;ons: Art of the In-Between&rdquo; was a retrospective of 140 clothing designs from the early 1980s to 2017. The halls of the Metropolitan Museum were organized according to nine aesthetic expressions of in-between-ness in Kawakubo's work: absence and presence, design and non-design, fashion and anti-fashion, model and multiplicity, then and now, high and low, self and other, object and subject, clothing and non-clothing.

Rei Kawakubo / Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between

Rei Kawakubo breaks down the imaginary walls of dualism, exposing their artificiality and arbitrariness. More than half a century after founding the brand, the Japanese designer continues to prove that true creativity is born at the intersection of opposites, in the space between the familiar and the impossible.

Rei Kawakubo and Comme des Garçons: Anatomy of a Fashion Revolution

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