Rei Kawakubo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rei Kawakubo
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Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons Art of the In-Between exhibit in 2017
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かわくぼ れい
川久保 玲 11 October 1942 Tokyo, Japan
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| Education | Keio University |
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Label(s)
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Comme des Garçons |
| Spouse(s) | Adrian Joffe |
Rei Kawakubo (川久保 玲, Kawakubo Rei) (born 11 October 1942) is a famous Japanese fashion designer. She works in Tokyo and Paris. She started the fashion brand Comme des Garçons and the store Dover Street Market.
Her designs are so important that a special art show about her work, called Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons, Art of the In-Between, opened in 2017 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The singer Rihanna even wore one of her designs to the opening event.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Rei Kawakubo was born in Tokyo, Japan, on October 11, 1942. She was the oldest of three children and the only daughter. Her father worked at Keio University, a well-known school in Japan.
Even though she became a famous fashion designer, Rei Kawakubo did not study fashion design in college. Instead, she studied fine arts and literature at Keio University. She earned a degree in "the history of aesthetics," which included studying art from both Asia and the Western world.
After graduating in 1964, Kawakubo worked in advertising for a company called Asahi Kasei that made textiles. Later, in 1967, she became a freelance stylist. This means she helped people choose clothes and create looks for photoshoots or events. Two years later, she started designing and making her own clothes. She called her brand Comme des Garçons, which is French for "like the boys." She officially started the company in 1973.
Career Highlights
In 1969, Rei Kawakubo started her own company, Comme des Garçons Co. Ltd, in Tokyo. She opened her first store there in 1975, selling women's clothes. In 1978, she added a men's clothing line.
Three years later, she began showing her fashion collections in Paris during Paris Fashion Week. She opened a store in Paris in 1982. Comme des Garçons is known for its unique style, which is sometimes called "anti-fashion." Her clothes can look simple, strong, or even "deconstructed," meaning they might have unfinished edges or unusual shapes.
By 1980, Comme des Garçons was very successful. During the 1980s, many of her clothes were black, dark grey, or white. Because of her focus on black clothing, the Japanese press sometimes called Kawakubo and her fans "The Crows." Her designs often used fabric draped around the body, with frayed edges, holes, and uneven shapes. When she first showed her designs in Paris, they caused a stir because they challenged traditional ideas of beauty. Journalists even called her clothes "Hiroshima chic." Since the late 1980s, she has used more colors in her collections.
Kawakubo likes to be involved in all parts of her business. This includes graphic design, advertising, and even the look of her stores. She believes everything should fit her overall vision. For example, her store in Aoyama, Tokyo, is famous for its sloped glass front with blue dots.
In the early 1990s, Kawakubo published her own magazine called 'Six'. It had very little writing and mostly featured inspiring photos and images. She is known for being private and not liking to talk to the media. She prefers her creative designs to speak for themselves.
Influence on Fashion
Since 2003, many other famous designers have talked about Rei Kawakubo's original ideas and how much she has contributed to fashion. The Japanese TV company NHK even broadcast interviews about her work.
For example, the designer Alexander McQueen said that when Kawakubo designs a collection, it might seem strange at first. But when you see how she challenges herself every season, it makes you understand why people are in fashion. The designers Viktor & Rolf also said that Comme des Garçons made a strong impression on them when they were young. They saw her as part of a huge burst of creativity in fashion in the early 1980s.
Other designers like Jean Paul Gaultier and Donna Karan also supported Kawakubo early on. Gaultier called her a woman with "extreme courage" and a "poetic spirit." Donna Karan described Kawakubo as quiet, but said her clothes make a huge statement.
Rei Kawakubo is seen as a fashion icon, but she doesn't think of herself that way. Her designs have inspired many other designers, including Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester, and Helmut Lang.
Comme des Garçons collections are designed in Tokyo and made in Japan, France, Spain, and Turkey. The 2006 autumn/winter collection explored the idea of "persona," which means the different ways we show ourselves to the world. This collection mixed men's tailored clothes with more feminine items like corsets and flower prints.
Collaborations and Dover Street Market
Rei Kawakubo has also helped other designers start their own labels under the Comme des Garçons name, like Junya Watanabe and Tao Kurihara.
Comme des Garçons has worked with many other brands over the years. These include Fred Perry, Levi's, Converse All Star, Speedo, Nike, Moncler, Lacoste, Louis Vuitton, and Supreme. In 2008, Comme des Garçons even created a special collection with the popular clothing store H&M. Kawakubo designed clothes for men, women, children, and even a perfume for this collaboration.
Rei Kawakubo also started Dover Street Market in 2004 in London. It's a unique department store that sells many different brands, with a focus on visual displays and new designers. Dover Street Market now has locations in Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, New York, and Los Angeles.
Museum Exhibition
In 2017, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held a major exhibition dedicated to Rei Kawakubo. It was called "Art of the In-Between." This was a very special event because Kawakubo was only the second living designer to have an exhibition honored at the Met's Costume Institute.
The curator of the exhibit, Andrew Bolton, said that Kawakubo's influence is huge, even if it's sometimes subtle. He explained that it's not about copying her, but about the pureness of her ideas. Kawakubo was very involved in designing the exhibit herself. The show featured about 150 Comme des Garçons outfits, from the early 1980s to recent times. Many people who saw the exhibit found it very powerful and impressive.
Design Inspiration
Rei Kawakubo is one of fashion's most influential designers. She always tries to challenge how traditional clothes look. Her designs often rethink the human body. She creates new ideas of beauty by adding unusual shapes and bumps to her clothes. These outfits often do not follow standard sizes.
One famous example is her spring/summer 1997 collection, called "Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body." In this collection, Kawakubo explored how clothes can change the shape of the body. She created unstructured dresses and forms. By doing this, she also questioned ideas about gender and the body, creating designs that broke away from typical female stereotypes.
Her fall/winter 2017 collection, which she called "the future of silhouette," also showed these themes. Even though Kawakubo is a female designer, she has said that her gender does not influence her work. She aims to create designs that completely ignore gender stereotypes, even for men's clothing.
Legacy
After her 2017 exhibition at the Met, Rei Kawakubo's husband, Adrian Joffe, suggested that this might be the last exhibition Kawakubo would personally work on. However, he said she might allow the current exhibit to travel to other museums around the world.
Personal Life
Rei Kawakubo was in a relationship with fellow Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto in the 1980s and 1990s. Later, she married Adrian Joffe, who is now the CEO of Comme des Garçons and Dover Street Market.
She lives in Tokyo but often travels to Paris to visit her companies' main offices. She also sometimes attends her fashion shows. Adrian Joffe, who is ten years younger than Kawakubo, joined her company in 1987. They got married in 1992 in Paris. It's a unique partnership because she lives in Tokyo and he is based in Paris. When they are together, Joffe often helps translate for her and protects her from questions that are too personal.
Main Clothing Lines
- Comme des Garçons
- Comme des Garçons Commes des Garçons
- Comme des Garçons Girl
- Comme des Garçons Homme
- Comme des Garçons Homme Plus
- Comme des Garçons Homme Deux
- Comme des Garçons Shirt
- BLACK Commes des Garçons
- PLAY Comme des Garçons
- Comme des Garçons Parfums (perfumes)
- Comme des Garçons Wallet (wallets and accessories)
- Comme des Garçons CDG
See also
In Spanish: Rei Kawakubo para niños
- Deconstruction (fashion)
- 1980s in fashion
- 1990s in fashion
- Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons Art of the In-Between
