Comme des Garçons According to Rei Kawakubo: The Designer’s Manifesto
Comme des Garçons According to Rei Kawakubo: The Designer’s Manifesto
Few designers have reshaped fashion as profoundly as Rei Kawakubo, the visionary behind Comme des Garçons. Since founding the brand in 1969, Kawakubo has relentlessly challenged conventions, defied beauty norms, and redefined what clothing can be. https://commedesgarconsco.us/
Her approach is not merely about garments but about ideas—philosophical inquiries expressed through fabric, structure, and form. Comme des Garçons (CDG) is less a fashion label than a manifesto: an ongoing rebellion against conformity, a dialogue between destruction and creation.
Anti-Fashion as Philosophy
Kawakubo’s aesthetic is often described as anti-fashion, but this term does not imply an opposition to fashion itself. Rather, it represents a rejection of traditional ideas of style, gender, and beauty. From her early collections—marked by asymmetry, deconstruction, and a preference for black—to her later sculptural experiments, Kawakubo has continuously questioned why clothing should conform to the body at all.
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Her breakout moment came in 1981, when she debuted in Paris with a collection that critics famously described as “Hiroshima chic.” The garments were black, draped, and distressed—far from the polished glamour of the time. Ripped fabric, holes, and raw edges evoked an apocalyptic beauty, an aesthetic of imperfection that drew from the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi. Instead of accentuating the body’s curves, her clothing often obscured it entirely, creating avant-garde silhouettes that blurred the lines between clothing, sculpture, and armor.
The Language of Comme des Garçons
Kawakubo does not sketch her designs. Instead, she works directly with fabric, shaping it on a mannequin until she discovers something new. This method leads to unexpected results—dresses with exaggerated proportions, coats with extra sleeves, pants that appear to be unfinished. Her work is a form of problem-solving, driven by the desire to escape repetition and predictability.
The 1997 Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body collection—known colloquially as the “lumps and bumps” collection—perfectly encapsulated her ethos. Padded bulges protruded from unexpected places, distorting the human form in ways that defied Western ideals of symmetry and proportion. It was unsettling, provocative, and deeply intellectual. Was it fashion? Was it art? The answer was neither—or both. Comme des Garçons exists in the space between categories, where definitions collapse.
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Business as an Extension of Creativity
While Kawakubo is renowned for her artistic vision, she is equally radical in her approach to business. Unlike traditional fashion houses, CDG operates like an ecosystem of experimentation. In 2004, she introduced Comme des Garçons Play, a more accessible line featuring the now-iconic heart logo designed by artist Filip Pagowski. In 2009, she pioneered the concept of guerrilla stores—temporary retail spaces in unexpected locations, often abandoned buildings or industrial areas. These pop-ups defied the luxury retail model, proving that fashion could be both exclusive and democratic.
Her influence extends beyond her own brand. Through her company Dover Street Market, founded in 2004, she has created a space where avant-garde designers—both established and emerging—can coexist. The store is not just a retail space but a constantly evolving installation, reflecting Kawakubo’s belief that fashion should never be static.
A Legacy of Uncompromising Innovation
Rei Kawakubo rarely speaks about her work, preferring to let the clothes communicate for themselves. When she does offer insight, it is often in cryptic, poetic statements. She once said, “The only way to create something new is to forget what exists.” This relentless pursuit of innovation has made Comme des Garçons one of the most influential fashion houses of all time.
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Her impact can be seen in the works of designers like Martin Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, and Demna Gvasalia, all of whom have embraced deconstruction, asymmetry, and conceptual fashion in their own ways. Yet, despite her legendary status, Kawakubo continues to push forward, rejecting nostalgia and resisting the comfort of past successes. Each collection is a new challenge, a new question, a new rebellion.
For Rei Kawakubo, Comme des Garçons is not about creating clothes—it is about creating possibility.
