Comme des Garçons

Rei Kawakubo studied fine art and literature, worked in advertising, and started Comme des Garçons in Tokyo in 1969. Her first Paris show, in 1981, was black, holed and asymmetric, and the press had no vocabulary for it.

Every season since has started from one idea and taken the garment apart to test it. The early 1990s brought historical textiles into distorted tailoring. By SS06 the work was sculptural, the body reshaped through drape and ruching alone.

Tricot was the quieter room of the house: the same hand, softer cloth.