Rei Kawakubo was born in Tokyo, Japan on October 11, 1942. Despite her deep involvement in the fashion industry, Kawakubo has not obtained a degree in fashion design. In one of the most prestigious universities in Tokyo – that is Keio University – Kawakubo has earned a degree in philosophy, focusing on Eastern and Western aesthetics, instead. Kawakubo’s first job was as an advertising consultant in a textile company.Perhaps, it was during this time that she realized her fascination with fashion, leading her to leave her job and venture into the fashion industry as a freelance photographic stylist.
After six years, Kawakubo decided to establish her own company which she called Comme de Garcons Co. , Ltd. Within five years, Kawakubo was able to venture into a men’s line after initially working on women’s fashion. After almost three years, Kawakubo went to Paris to present Comme de Garcons fashion and was able to establish her own boutique in the city.
Kawakubo’s signature style may be categorized as anti-fashion since it veers away from conformist styles that are structured and fully realized. During her first fashion presentation in Paris, her works were criticized because her designs were fragmentary in nature and unbalanced. The primary colors that she used in her designs – black, grey, and white - were also considered insipid. In structuring her designs, Kawakubo always abolished the limits or boundaries of fashion that traditionally constitute beauty and sexuality.For Kawakubo, fashion should be unstructured and flexible, free from standards and limitations. Kawakubo’s artful inspirations are always rooted on the Japanese culture, such as Tokyo street fashion, and anything that defies the ordinary, such as male clothing incorporated to Comme de Garcons’ women’s line or vice versa, and such.
However, the strong direction of her career was propelled by the same reasons that earned her negative criticisms from commentators and other designers.Some people were inspired by Kawakubo’s disregard for traditional fashion. Kawakubo has gained many followers. At present, Comme de Garcons operates in thirty-three countries around the world, and Kawakubo’s company keeps on going due to yearly revenue reaching as high as $125 million annually. (Quinn, 2006) Kawakubo’s artful works target individuals who realize the existence of aesthetics in ultramodern and radical fashion.
Moreover, Kawakubo caters to individuals who do not have high gender expectations on the division between the men and women’s line as she is known to break the barriers between male and female clothing by creating a fusion that veers away from the compartmentalization of femininity or masculinity. Although Kawakubo first launched her Comme de Garcons fragrance collection in 1994, it was in 1998 that Comme de Garcons received much attention from the public through the company’s introduction of Kawakubo’s anti-perfume collection which she called Odeur 53.Like her clothing designs, the perfume also defied the traditional expectations of individuals by working on smells that people would not usually consider to be desirable scents, such as nail polish and burnt rubber. Kawakubo’s purpose in launching perfumes with unique and outlandish smells was for Comme de Garcons to introduce scents that were unique and distinct. (Betts, N. D.
) Moreover, Kawakubo has yet again proved that scents or perfumes do not simply fall under aromatic and pungent categories.Kawakubo has received the Mainichi Newspaper Fashion Award (1983 and 1988) and the Fashion Group Night of the Stars Award in 1986 which was presented in New York City. In the same year, Kawakubo also received acclaim for her work in Paris as she was awarded the Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2000, Harvard University awarded Kawakubo with the Harvard Graduate School of Design Excellence in Design. (“Rei Kawakubo,” 2007)
