Creative Director CV: Rei Kawakubo
From the 1960s to today, an overview of the Japanese designer’s remarkable career.
Rei Kawakubo was born in 1942 in Tokyo, Japan, as the oldest of three siblings. She studied fine arts and literature at Keio University, later citing the experience as formative for its championing of Western culture and female empowerment.
She had no formal fashion training, but became a freelance stylist after working in the advertising department of textile factory Asahi Kasei. This began a lifelong obsession with clothing and design. She began making her own clothes when she was unable to find suitable pieces for clients. Eventually, she began using her earnings from styling work to fund the manufacture of sportswear items that she sold through boutiques.
“I got a job by accident at a textile factory and worked as a stylist at this textile factory. I couldn't find the thing that I wanted to style so I started making my own,” she told Dezeen Magazine in 2019. “But I always wanted to use fashion as a tool, as a material to make a business out of creation.”
Kawakubo founded Comme des Garçons in 1969. Its first boutique opened in Tokyo in 1973. In 1981, Kawakubo presented her first collection in Paris, heading to the French capital along with fellow Japanese designers Yohji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake. Despite her success, she has remained notoriously press-shy throughout her career, granting few interviews and often providing roundabout answers.
Rei Kawakubo’s Influence
Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garçons
Challenging. Heretic. Unconventional. Subversive. These are just some of the adjectives used to describe Kawakubo’s work. In the brand’s early years, Kawakubo and her followers were dubbed “The Crows” because of how heavily Comme des Garçons leaned on the color black. Kawakubo has said the label’s kachigan—a Japanese term that describes a values system or soul—is to always find something new.
Over time, the label began to explore more adventurous color palettes, with a particular focus on red in the late ’80s. Kawakubo’s renegade silhouettes veer from subtly subversive to maximalist and avant-garde, with the latter exemplified by legendary collections like the Spring/Summer 1997 “lumps and bumps” show. Notably, Kawakubo pioneered the atelier lab coat in the ’80s when the brand used them as a way to identify CDG employees during shows. Each lab coat has the date of the show on the reverse side.
Following the success of Comme des Garçons, Kawakubo opened Dover Street Market with her husband, Adrian Joffe. The retail space hosts established designers and brands, including CDG, while also providing a platform for breakout talents such as Jacquemus. In the past, she has described Dover Street Market as “beautiful chaos.”
In 2017, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announced Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons as the theme for that year’s Met Gala and Costume Institute exhibition. “Rei Kawakubo is one of the most important and influential designers of the past 40 years,” said Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton. “By inviting us to rethink fashion as a site of constant creation, recreation and hybridity, she has defined the aesthetics of our time.”
Kawakubo’s creative vision for CDG is realized through various sub-labels, with each serving as a vessel for a particular design method. They are: Comme des Garçons Homme (founded in 1978), Comme des Garçons Homme Plus (1984), Comme des Garçons Homme Deux (1987), Comme des Garçons SHIRT (1988), Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons (1992), Comme des Garçons PLAY (2002) and Comme des Garçons BLACK (2008).
Rei Kawakubo Collaborations
Kawakubo has been a prolific collaborator since the turn of the millennium, working with everyone from photographer Cindy Sherman and artist Ai Weiwei to major sportswear brands. Below are a handful of the most notable collaborations:
Nike
Comme des Garçons’ first collaboration with Nike was unveiled in 1999 as an experimental take on the Zoom Haven silhouette overseen by Kawakubo prodigy Junya Watanabe. They have continued working together ever since. The creative union comprises both apparel and footwear across numerous sub-labels, including highly coveted reworks of silhouettes like the Air Max 180 and VaporMax.
Louis Vuitton
Comme des Garçons x Louis Vuitton was one of 2008’s most anticipated collaborations. For the project, which marked 30 years since LV first opened in Tokyo, Kawakubo worked with artistic director Marc Jacobs to design six one-off bags with the LV monogram pattern. As part of the tie-up, they opened a pop-up store in the Japanese capital’s trendy Aoyama district.
Supreme
Supreme established a long-running creative affiliation with Comme des Garçons in 2012. Some of their most notable items came through the SHIRT sub-line. The design approach combines visual hallmarks from both brands, including a refracted box logo design and new iterations of the polka dot and pinstripe motifs.
Hermès
Kawakubo followed in the footsteps of longtime friend Yohji Yamamoto by teaming up with Hermès in 2013. Dubbed the Comme des Carrés project, Kawakubo brought a unique perspective to the Parisian luxury house’s iconic scarf, employing abstract prints and empowering expressions.
BAPE
BAPE and Comme des Garçons have overseen various collaborations across numerous lines. The collision between the Japanese institutions sees irreverent motifs like the Ape Head and Baby Milo recontextualized alongside the Comme des Garçons wordmark.
Vans
In 2004, Vans teamed up with Comme des Garçons and Raf Simons for a highly limited run of Vans Slip-Ons for the colette x CDG pop-up store in Japan. Vans and CDG have continued to collaborate occasionally in the years since, releasing a selection of co-branded shoes.
Converse
The CDG PLAY sub-label’s heart logo remains the most widely recognized visual in the Comme des Garçons universe. Designed by Polish artist Filip Pagowski, it serves as a visual hallmark for PLAY’s ongoing collaborative series with Converse, appearing in various forms on the Chuck 70.
The North Face
The CDG sub-label came together with The North Face in 2023, applying a minimalist sensibility to iconic outerwear staples like the Nuptse Vest, Denali Fleece Jacket and Hydrenaline Jacket and Pants.
Rei Kawakubo’s Signature Style
Kawakubo was once described by fashion journalist Suzy Menkes as “the ultimate fashion rebel.” Impossible to compartmentalize, her creative universe ranges from simple designs to avant-garde costuming. In the beginning, Kawakubo took inspiration from the punk movement and even sold pieces through Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s legendary Sex boutique. This anti-establishment ethos still runs through her work, expressed most often through boundary-pushing lines like Homme Plus.
While the color black is a Kawakubo signature, she has also experimented with other colors. Many collections are marked by a deconstructivist theme, exemplified by raw edges, rumpled fabrics and unfinished seams. Designs challenge beauty orthodoxy but also appear alongside more familiar design cues, best exemplified by the Spring/Summer 1997 “lumps and bumps” collection. This balancing act of polarities, or organized chaos, informs the wider label aesthetic. Ultimately, however, CDG’s overarching style remains ineffable.
FAQ
Who has Rei Kawakubo worked with?
Comme des Garçons is the platform for Rei Kawakubo’s fashion output. In addition to fashion labels like Louis Vuitton, Moncler and Supreme, Comme des Garçons has worked with prominent brands outside the sphere of fashion, like the Star Wars movie franchise.
How to pronounce Rei Kawakubo ?
Rei Kawakubo is pronounced “Ray Kah-wah-kuh-bow.”
Where did Rei Kawakubo go to school?
Rei Kawakubo went to school at Keio University.
How did Rei Kawakubo get into fashion?
Rei Kawakubo got into fashion while working as a stylist. She honed her craft by creating pieces she could not find elsewhere.
Where did Rei Kawakubo work?
Rei Kawakubo worked in the advertising department of textile factory Asahi Kasei before going on to work as a freelance stylist.
What is Rei Kawakubo famous for?
Rei Kawakubo is famous for her often challenging and avant-garde fashion designs. She has altered the trajectory of fashion through her work at Comme des Garçons.
What shoes did Rei Kawakubo design?
Where to buy designs from Rei Kawakubo?
You can buy designs by Rei Kawakubo and Comme des Garçons on GOAT.