Denying the Norm: Rei Kawakubo’s Pursuit of New Design

In a stark white Parisian gallery in 2017, a crowd gathers around sculptures that defy categorization. These bulbous forms and abstract shapes challenge the very notion of clothing. This is Rei Kawakubo’s world, but to understand this moment, we must unravel the thread of her story.

The tale begins on October 11, 1942, in war-torn Tokyo. As bombs fall, a baby girl is born, destined to drop bombs of her own on the fashion world. This tumultuous beginning perhaps foreshadows the disruption Kawakubo would later bring to established norms.

Fast forward to the 1960s. Rei, now a literature and philosophy student at Keio University, walks Tokyo’s streets, her mind brimming with ideas. The clothes in shop windows fail to reflect her intellectual spirit, planting seeds of dissatisfaction that will soon bloom into revolution.

1969 arrives, and those seeds burst into flame. Kawakubo, driven by a desire for self-expression, begins designing her own clothes. This personal rebellion lays the foundation for her future empire. Just four years later, in 1973, thread in hand, she finds Comme des Garçons, a name meaning “like some boys”—hinting at the gender-bending designs to come. “I’ve always pursued a new way of thinking about design…by denying established values, conventions, and what is generally accepted as the norm.”

As Kawakubo’s vision grows, so does her influence. In 1981, she makes her Paris debut, stunning the audience with distressed, monochromatic garments dubbed “post-atomic fashion.” This collection, born from the spark of 1969, now ignites a wildfire in the fashion world.

The flames spread rapidly. By 1988, Kawakubo launches Comme des Garçons Homme Plus, pushing boundaries in menswear just as she had in women’s fashion. Her philosophy, cultivated since her university days, now fully blooms: “I’ve always pursued a new way of thinking about design…by denying established values, conventions, and what is generally accepted as the norm.”

This philosophy, woven through every creation, carries Kawakubo from strength to strength. In 2004, she launches Dover Street Market, redefining luxury retail just as she had redefined clothing decades earlier. Her influence, sparked in the ’60s and fanned in the ’80s, now blazes across the industry, inspiring designers like Martin Margiela and Alexander McQueen.

As we return to the present, Kawakubo’s legacy is undeniable. At over 80 years old, she continues to innovate. Her Dover Street Market, launched in 2004, redefines luxury retail. Her influence echoes in the works of designers like Martin Margiela and Alexander McQueen.

Each piece in that gallery, each bulbous form and abstract shape, carries within it the echo of a young woman’s rebellion in 1969, the shock of her Paris debut in 1981, and the boundary-pushing of her menswear in 1988. In Kawakubo’s world, every thread connects, and every design builds on what came before while pushing ceaselessly into the future.

Her journey is an ever-evolving tapestry of creativity and defiance. In her story, we see that true revolution isn’t a single act, but a lifetime of challenging norms, one stitch at a time.

Bidisha Ghosh, is an avid reader and passionate content writer crafting engaging, insightful articles.