Name
|
Comme des Garcons
|
Other names
|
Rei Kawakubo is a fashion designer from Tokyo, Japan and the creator of Comme des Garçons.
|
Dates & places of birth and death
|
Born on October 11th,1942
|
Nationality
|
Japanese
|
Places of residence
|
Tokyo, Japan
|
Role
|
Designer
|
Occupation
|
After graduation, she was employed in a textile firm and also did freelance styling in 1967. Later, she founded her own company and opened her first fashion store in 1975. Her brand started off with female clothing and within three years, she introduced menswear as well. Soon she began presenting her collections at different season shows in Paris and by 1982 opened a boutique in the city of Eiffel Tower.
Comme des Garçons is famous for its austere, anti-fashion and at times deconstructed apparel. During the 80s, garment made by Rei were primarily in white, grey and black. The fabrics were draped and frayed, with rough edges and asymmetrical shapes. Afterwards, the color palette in her work has incorporated more hues.
Rei is not only involved with the creative department of her business, she also focuses on other aspects other than accessories and clothes. She also shows a keen interest in the interiors of her shops, advertising and promotion of her label as well as graphic designing.
Most of Kawakubo’s designs include black color. This is because she has always preferred the hue above others. Black will never become old and for Rei it has become a somewhat habit to incorporate this shade in her designs. She is always finding the black of tomorrow.
The additional benefit that designers like Rei gain is that they have the power of art with them. Their work speaks more than them. Kawakubo thinks that anything that people wear, governs their emotions and feelings. Appearance influences others and thus fashion plays a critical role in terms of aesthetics and practicality.
Fashion and art are two different things and both can’t be compared, although they can be blended. Kawakubo believes that inspiration to her does not come from things that exist already around her and she can see them such as galleries, people, places, museums and so on.
|
Education
|
She did not attain a degree in fashion designing but has studied literature and art at Keio University, graduated in 1964.
|
Titles & Honors
|
Kawakubo’s iconoclastic vision made her one of the most influential designers of the late 20th century.
Kawakubo won the Fashion Group International award (1986) and the Excellence in Design Award from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (2000). In 1993 she was honoured by the French government as a Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters. Her fashions were featured in several exhibitions, including "Mode et Photo, Comme des Garçons" at the Pompidou Centre in Paris (1986), "Three Women: Madeleine Vionnet, Claire McCardell, and Rei Kawakubo" at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City (1987), "ReFusing Fashion: Rei Kawakubo" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2008), and "Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between" (2017) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
|
Relationships
|
In addition to this, she is a member of Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter.
More than this, she owns many other lines such as Play Comme des Garçons, Comme Des Garcons for H&M, Tricot Comme des Garçons, Comme des Garçons Homme Plus Evergreen and some other collections.
|
Publications
|
In 1996, she did guest editing for Visionaire magazine. In an interview with Women’s Wear Daily, the designer told the media that although people think of her as a fashion icon but she doesn’t imagine herself in that way. She does not think of herself as special and often struggles in defining herself.
|
Notes
|
https://www.famousfashiondesigners.org/?s=Comme+des+Garcons
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rei-Kawakubo
|
