Rei Kawakubo

Kawakubo is the founder and creative director of Comme des Garçons, which she established in 1973. A self-taught fashion designer, she has positioned herself at the forefront of the avant-garde. Kawakubo studied art and literature at Keio University. She entered the fashion industry as a freelance stylist at a textile factory in 1967. Two years later she began making her own clothes under the label Comme des Garçons. In the following years Kawakubo would refine her aesthetic and expand her brand, opening her first boutique in Tokyo in 1975. During this time she amassed a large following so that by the time that Comme des Garçons debuted in Paris in 1981, Kawakubo was already famous. By the late 1980’s... more.