Beginner's Guide to Comme des Garçons

History of Comme des Garçons 

Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo founded Comme des Garçons in Tokyo, Japan in 1969. A fine arts and literature graduate, Kawakubo had no formal fashion training, instead approaching design from a conceptual standpoint. After working in the advertising department of a textile company styling print ads and TV commercials, she decided to make clothes. Kawakubo said she chose the name “Comme des Garçons” because she wanted “something long, something with a ring to it.” The name means “like some boys” in French and is also the title of a song sung by French soldier’s.

Initially, Kawakubo’s cerebral aesthetic was defined by the use of the color black, recontextualizing the relationship between clothing and the body with cocoon-like silhouettes. Styles were punctuated with intentional holes and fraying, described as bearing similarities to the holes left by moths. This anti-fashion design language challenged Western fashion conventions, standing in stark contrast to the decadent, highly sexualized themes prevalent at the time.

Comme des Garçons showed for the first time in Paris in 1981 and, despite mixed initial reactions due to the clothing’s abstract nature, she opened the doors of her inaugural boutique in the French capital one year later. Kawakubo’s label has since excelled at avant-garde fashion design, an approach exemplified in the Spring/Summer 1997 ‘Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body’ show. Referred to by insiders as the “Lumps and Bumps” collection, Kawakubo reworked traditional gingham dresses with bulbous, almost deformed, silhouettes.

In 2004, Kawakubo and her husband Adrian Joffe conceived Dover Street Market. Opening its first store on the London street of the same name, the store is a portal to all things Comme des Garçons, combining the brand’s latest offerings with more accessible streetwear and luxury labels. In addition to London, DSM has outposts in Los Angeles, New York, Singapore, Tokyo, Paris and Beijing.

In 2017, Kawakubo became the second living designer to exhibit at the Met Gala, following in the footsteps of Yves Saint Laurent. Numerous influential designers have served a creative apprenticeship under the eye of Kawakubo, including Junya Watanabe, Chitose Abe, Tao Kurihara, Fumito Ganryu, Junichi Abe and Kei Ninomiya.

Comme des Garçons Today

Comme des Garçons remains one of fashion’s most innovative houses, exploring new 

themes and stretching the limits of design with each collection. Kawakubo retains an elusive, enigmatic presence; the fiercely independent designer rarely speaks to the media and largely rejects celebrity culture. 

Once exclusively associated with the use of black and then red, Kawakubo has since explored other shades. The main Comme des Garçons line remains deliberately abstract; her design approach is shrouded in mystery and left for the outside world to interpret. This was evident in the Spring/Summer 2022 ready-to-wear collection that presented 3D fabric sculptures adorned with the brand’s signature bow motif, and again for Fall/Winter 2023, which resisted traditional tailoring standards for otherworldly dresses.

Today, the Comme des Garçons universe is vast, spanning various diffusion lines and affiliated brands. Some of the most notable labels include PLAY, a casual basics line distinguished by its heart logo, and SHIRT, a line specializing in shirting and distinguished by pale blue stripes.

Comme des Garçons Apparel

Comme des Garçons’ vast empire of brands and sub-brands encompasses all manner of apparel styles, from haute couture and avant-garde to tailoring and streetwear. Below, a list of some of the most sought-after pieces available on GOAT.

Other Comme des Garçon Brands 

The Comme des Garçons family tree is characterized by a wide variety of styles, all united by Kawakubo’s idiosyncratic sensibilities. With over 15 sub-labels, below is a guide to some of the most notable.

Comme des Garçons Homme (1978)

The first-ever Comme des Garçons diffusion line, Comme des Garçons Homme adapted Kawakubo’s creative vision to menswear. After learning the craft as a patternmaker, Junya Watanabe assumed the role of Homme chief designer at just 26 years old. 

Comme des Garçons Homme Plus (1984)

Launched in 1984 and shown at Paris Fashion Week, Comme des Garçons Homme Plus is the purest distillation of Kawakubo’s boundary-stretching menswear vision. The line recontextualizes traditional suiting and tailoring through an avant-garde lens, upending jackets, trousers and T-shirts with outré cuts and kaleidoscopic colors.

Comme des Garçons Homme Deux (1987)

In 1987, Kawakubo announced Comme des Garçons Homme Deux, the third diffusion line in the Comme des Garçons constellation. Predominantly associated with businesswear, Homme Deux is a balancing act of sophistication and offbeat aesthetics, approaching traditional Western archetypes with a Japanese design ethos.

Comme des Garçons SHIRT (1988)

As the name suggests, Comme des Garçons SHIRT was established as a shirting line  in 1988. Now comprising all types of garments, SHIRT is antithetical to Kawakubo’s typically brooding aesthetic codes, dominated by vibrant colors, patchwork detailing and whimsical prints. Not confined to in-house Comme des Garçons designers, SHIRT has worked with outside collaborators including KAWS, Futura, Lacoste and ASICS. 

Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons (1992)

Watanabe's eponymous line launched in 1992, initially specializing in womenswear. Showing in Paris in 1993, Kawakubo’s star pupil gave the world a first look at his preternatural gift for pattern-making and cutting—skills that would become a calling card of his career. Watanabe MAN was introduced later on, specializing in refashioning classic menswear with an absurdist sleight of hand. Meanwhile the eYe line (now reintegrated with the main label), focused on collaborations, including with the likes of Levi’s and New Balance.

Comme des Garçons PLAY (2002)

The most commercially visible Comme des Garçons label, PLAY is significantly removed from the radical design language that has become a hallmark of Kawakubo’s career. The label is described as “a sign, a symbol, a feeling,” or, as Adrian Joffe once said, “[PLAY] is the antithesis of design, [instead] based on prototypical forms.” A polka-dot motif and Polish artist Filip Pagowsk’s heart logo is the visual crux that ties PLAY together, adorning basics such as T-shirts, hoodies, jackets and sneakers.

Comme des Garçons BLACK (2008)

Comme des Garçons BLACK launched as an accessible offshoot during the Great Recession. Available in a limited number of stores, BLACK’s ongoing sneaker partnership with Nike is one of the label’s most popular offerings, including esoteric silhouettes like the Night Track.

Comme des Garçons Girl (2015)

From ruffle shirts to polka-dot bow appliques and baby pink satchels, Comme des Garçons Girl remasters typical Comme des Garçons design elements with an almost theatrical feminine sensibility.

Tricot Comme des Garçons / Tao

Tricot— meaning “knitwear” in French— is something of a misnomer, given the label has expanded to incorporate a multitude of different fabrics. Tricot has served as a de facto talent incubator, with proteges Junya Watanabe and, more recently, Tao Kurihara serving as head designers under the watch of Kawakubo. Kurihara established her own eponymous label under the Comme des Garçons line in 2005, which was eventually disbanded in 2011. She returned to helm Tricot, rebranding the line as “Tao” during the Spring/Summer 2022 season.

CDG (2018)

Initially unveiled as CDGCDGCDG, the label’s name was shortened in 2018. CDG eschews conceptual codes in favor of bold logos and graphics, elevated through collaborations alongside the likes of Cactus Plant Flea Market and Dreamland Syndicate.

How to Style Comme des Garçons 

The Comme des Garçons product inventory spans clothing of almost every type, from couture and formal to casual and streetwear. Because of the brand’s vast catalog, Comme des Garçons pieces can be styled in both straightforward and avant-garde ways.

Brands Similar to Comme des Garçons 

Comme des Garçons has inspired numerous other brands and designers. While the brand’s overarching aesthetic is idiosyncratic, former alumni at the house such as sacai’s Chitose Abe and Fumito Ganryu are informed by the same experimental, conceptual design sensibilities. Although not strictly comparable to Comme des Garçons, additional similar labels that continually push the boundaries of fashion include Yohji Yamamoto, Rick Owens and Ann Demeulemeester.

Comme des Garçons FAQ

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