Fashion career profile
Rei Kawakubo
Rei Kawakubo is a Japanese fashion designer and the founder and artistic director of Comme des Garçons. She established the company in Tokyo in 1969 and began presenting collections in Paris in the early 1980s. Her work has persistently questioned conventional expectations of beauty, silhouette and the relationship between clothing and the body. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2017 Costume Institute exhibition examined her work across nearly four decades, an unusually substantial institutional recognition for a living designer. Kawakubo also co-founded Dover Street Market with Adrian Joffe in London in 2004, extending her experimental approach into retail and exhibition-making. The profile separates her leadership of Comme des Garçons from the Dover Street Market venture, a related but distinct organization. Her influence is best understood through the continuing body of work and institutions she has built, rather than a list of conventional corporate job titles.
- Role
- Founder and Artistic Director, Comme des Garçons
- Nationality
- Japanese
- Age
- 84
- Career appointments
- 1
- Fashion houses
- 1
- Dover Street Market — Co-Founder2004–End not documented · status not documented
- COMME des GARÇONS Revives the GUERRILLA STORE in Fukuoka With Archive PiecesHypebeast Fashion · 2026-10-26
- Le Bon Marché Will Bring Japanese Fashion Archives to the Auction FloorWWD · 2026-10-12
- Comme des Garçons Spring 2027: We’ll Never Be RoyalsWWD · 2026-10-03
- Institutional recognition: The Met, 2017Art of the In-Between presented approximately 140 examples of her Comme des Garçons womenswear. · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Nationality: JapaneseThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Education: Aesthetics, Keio UniversityReported field of study; not fashion-design training. · The New Yorker
- Primary house: Comme des GarçonsFounder and creative force behind the house. · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- House history: Label began in 1969; company established in 1973Separates the start of Kawakubo’s label from the later establishment of the company. · FHCM
- Retail concept: Dover Street MarketCo-founded the experimental retailer. · Dover Street Market
- 1969 — Comme des Garçons establishedKawakubo establishes the label that becomes her primary creative platform.
- 1969 — Begins Comme des GarçonsKawakubo begins making and selling womenswear under the Comme des Garçons name.
- 1973 — Comme des Garçons company establishedThe company is established under the same name.
- 1975 — First Comme des Garçons show in TokyoThe house presents its first show in Tokyo.
- 1981 — Paris subsidiary establishedThe house establishes a Paris subsidiary as part of its international development.
- 2004 — Dover Street Market opensKawakubo and Adrian Joffe open the first London store.
- 1969–Present — Founder and Artistic Director — Comme des GarçonsCurrent appointment · FHCM