Metropolitan Museum of Art celebrates Japanese designer in “Rei Kawakubo/Comme de Garçons: Art of the In-Between”
Comme des Garçon founder Rei Kawakubo is known for her whimsical designs—a staple in the fashion world. The Met honours her legacy with a stunning exhibit of her past and present works
The glitz and glamour of the annual Met Gala is upon us! This year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art honours Japanese fashion designer— and founder of Comme des Garçon — Rei Kawakubo with its spring exhibition. Opening to the public on 4 May, a sneak peek of the show is available in a video featuring curator Andrew Bolton. The designer is also the inspiration and theme of this year’s Met Gala.
“Rei Kawakubo/Comme de Garçons: Art of the In-Between” is the subject of the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The exhibition will be split into different themes: Absence/Presence, High/Low, Fashion/Antifashion and Object/Subject. Featuring nearly 150 examples of Kawakubo’s womenswear created for the label Comme des Garçons from the early 1980s to her most recent collection, the exhibit attests to the richness of Kawakubo’s body of work. The show will be the Met’s first monographic exhibition devoted to a living designer in more than three decades.
In a video shared by the Met in early April, Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, discusses the exhibition, while footage shows some of the many creations set to go on display. “Rei is all about creativity,” says Bolton. “She’s about innovation; she forces you to rethink notions of beauty, notions of the body, notions of fashion, notions of wearability — breaking down these barriers by creating hybrid identities.”
The video also reveals behind-the-scenes clips from the photo shoot for the exhibition catalogue, which features live models wearing Kawakubo’s designs. “There’s a myth about how Rei’s clothes are unwearable, so seeing them on live models is a way of, in a way, dispelling that mythology,” says Bolton. Kawabuko is the first artist after Yves Saint Laurent whose works are to be celebrated by the museum while alive.
“Rei Kawakubo/Comme de Garçons: Art of the In-Between” runs May 4 – September 4. On May 1, the annual star-studded Met Gala will celebrate the opening of the exhibition.
For more information, visit The Met.
