Kawakubo Rei’s Continuous Fashion Revolution: A Half Century of Rebellion, “Comme des Garçons”

Left: Kawakubo Rei’s Comme des Garçons spring-summer 2014 collection challenged the very concept of clothing. Right: Her spring-summer 2024 collection exploded with color, as if looking forward to a brighter future. (Photo courtesy of Comme des Garçons)

Kawakubo returned to her signature focus in her CdG autumn-winter 2026–27 collection with the theme “Ultimately Black.” (© Ōhara Hirokazu)

A piece from Kawakubo’s 1997 collection “Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body,” (Courtesy Comme des Garçons)

A scene from the media preview of the Comme de Garçons exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 1, 2017. (©Jiji)

Kawakubo’s 2015 spring-summer collection featured pieces expressing her disdain of war. (© Ōhara Hirokazu)

Reiterating her antiwar stance, Kawakubo bluntly titled her 2025–26 fall-winter collection “To hell with war.” (© Ōhara Hirokazu)