Comme des Garçons

Comme des Garçons is a Japanese fashion house founded by designer Rei Kawakubo in Tokyo in 1969 and incorporated as a company in 1973. The name, meaning “like boys” in French, was inspired by a lyric from Françoise Hardy’s 1962 song “Tous les garçons et les filles.” From its beginnings, the label rejected conventional ideas of flattering silhouettes, seasonal commercial fashion, and the separation between clothing and art. Its work is associated with asymmetry, unfinished construction, distressed or manipulated fabrics, unusual volumes, monochrome palettes, and designs that deliberately challenge the expected relationship between body and garment. The brand became established in Japan during the 1970s and introduced menswear in 1978. Its international profile grew substantially after its first Paris presentation in 1981. Early Paris collections, particularly those emphasizing black clothing, holes, raw edges, and apparently unfinished construction, provoked hostile or dismissive reviews, but they also established Kawakubo as one of the most important conceptual designers of the late twentieth century. Comme des Garçons subsequently became a central reference point for avant-garde, deconstructive, and anti-fashion practices. The business operates through a broad portfolio rather than a single uniform product line. Its main Comme des Garçons collections sit alongside more accessible or specialized labels, including Play, Tricot, Homme, Homme Plus, Shirt, Girl, Black, Wallet, and Comme des Garçons Parfums. The Play line, recognized by its heart-and-eyes emblem, is among the company’s most commercially visible offerings. Fragrance is an important adjacent business, with unconventional unisex and agendered scents such as Odeur 53, G I R L, and Concrete. The house also produces accessories, jewelry, wallets, footwear, and other fashion goods. Comme des Garçons has extended its influence through collaborations with fashion, sportswear, retail, art, music, and cultural institutions. Its retail concepts include Dover Street Market, a multi-brand environment combining Comme des Garçons products with selected designers, artists, and independent labels, and Guerrilla Stores, temporary shops intentionally located outside conventional luxury districts and designed with limited investment. These formats have helped the company present retail as an experimental cultural medium rather than merely a distribution channel. Collections are designed in Tokyo and manufactured across Japan, France, Spain, and Turkey, with production arrangements varying by line and garment type. The company has maintained a strong presence in Paris through its runway schedule and international business activities while retaining a distinctly Japanese design identity. Major cultural moments include the 1997 “lumps and bumps” collection, the related collaboration with choreographer Merce Cunningham, and the 2017 Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition devoted to Kawakubo’s work. Comme des Garçons remains active as an independent-minded fashion house whose influence extends well beyond its own sales channels and product labels.

Comme des Garçons was founded in Tokyo by Rei Kawakubo in 1969. Kawakubo had no formal training as a fashion designer, but her background in art and design, together with her dissatisfaction with prevailing fashion conventions, informed the company’s early direction. The business initially focused on women’s clothing and became formally incorporated as Comme des Garçons Co., Ltd. in 1973. During the 1970s, the label developed a reputation in Japan for dark, austere, and unconventional clothing. Its early collections questioned the polished, body-conscious style associated with much contemporary fashion. Kawakubo emphasized irregular silhouettes, layered construction, raw edges, and garments that did not necessarily flatter or reveal the body in familiar ways. This approach established the creative principles that would remain central to the house. Comme des Garçons presented its work in Paris from the early 1980s, bringing Japanese avant-garde fashion to a wider international audience. The Paris shows attracted considerable attention because they challenged established expectations about luxury, finish, femininity, and the role of the runway. Alongside Yohji Yamamoto and other Japanese designers working internationally at the time, Kawakubo helped broaden the vocabulary of European fashion. The company expanded through multiple labels rather than relying on one uniform product line. Comme des Garçons Homme and Comme des Garçons Homme Plus developed menswear propositions, while Shirt, Girl, and other lines served more specific markets and design purposes. PLAY Comme des Garçons introduced a comparatively accessible casual range distinguished by the heart-with-eyes graphic created by Filip Pagowski. The coexistence of conceptual collections and commercial sub-labels allowed the company to reach different customers while preserving a strong central identity. Fragrance became an important extension of the house. Comme des Garçons Parfums developed scents that often departed from conventional luxury-perfume formulas through unusual accords, incense references, synthetic materials, woody structures, spice, smoke, and deliberately abstract compositions. Lines including Series 3, Incense, Wonderwood, Blackpepper, Concrete, SHIRT, and other collections helped establish the brand as a significant independent voice in niche fragrance. The company also expanded its influence through collaborations and unconventional retail. Dover Street Market, launched in London in 2004 with Adrian Joffe, was conceived as a curated retail environment rather than a conventional department store. It combined Comme des Garçons products with emerging and established designers, artists, and cultural projects. Additional locations and temporary retail formats extended this model internationally. Comme des Garçons has collaborated with companies in sportswear, footwear, denim, accessories, and other categories. These partnerships have included both limited-edition projects and longer-running commercial relationships. The collaborations have helped translate the house’s design codes to broader audiences while maintaining an emphasis on scarcity, experimentation, and visual distinction. Rei Kawakubo has remained the company’s defining creative authority. The Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated its 2017 Costume Institute exhibition to her work, reflecting her influence on modern fashion. Comme des Garçons continues to operate as a private, internationally active fashion house spanning runway collections, commercial sub-labels, accessories, fragrances, collaborations, and retail. Public information about its financial performance is limited because the company does not operate as a widely held public corporation.

1. 2017Metropolitan Museum exhibition

   The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents a Costume Institute exhibition devoted to Rei Kawakubo and her influence on fashion.

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2. 2004Dover Street Market opens

   Comme des Garçons and Adrian Joffe establish Dover Street Market in London as a curated multibrand retail concept.

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3. 1981International Paris presentation

   The house presents in Paris and gains international attention for its radical approach to silhouette, construction, and color.

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4. 1973Company incorporation

   Comme des Garçons Co., Ltd. is incorporated as the company develops its fashion operations.

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5. 1969Comme des Garçons is founded

   Rei Kawakubo establishes the Comme des Garçons fashion business in Tokyo.

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Independent, experimental Japanese fashion house combining conceptual design, sub-labels, collaborations, distinctive retail, and unconventional fragrance. Its positioning ranges from highly directional runway fashion to more accessible logo-led and casual products.

• Comme des Garçons main collectionsAvant-garde fashion1969

  The main womenswear collections express Rei Kawakubo’s most experimental ideas through unconventional proportions, asymmetry, layered construction, unexpected materials, and designs that challenge conventional assumptions about the relationship between clothing and the body.

• Comme des Garçons Homme PlusMenswear

  A principal menswear line associated with the house’s directional design language. It combines tailoring, deconstruction, theatrical proportions, and experimental styling while functioning as a major runway and image-building expression of Comme des Garçons.

• PLAY Comme des GarçonsCasual apparel2002

  A more accessible casual label known for T-shirts, knitwear, sweatshirts, and other everyday garments carrying the recognizable heart-with-eyes graphic designed by Filip Pagowski. PLAY translates selected Comme des Garçons codes into a broad lifestyle-oriented assortment.

• Comme des Garçons ParfumsFragrance1994

  The fragrance division develops conceptual perfumes, colognes, incense-related compositions, and other scent products. Its releases commonly emphasize unusual contrasts, woods, spices, smoke, synthetic textures, and abstract presentations rather than conventional mass-market perfume structures.

• WonderwoodFragrance2010

  A Comme des Garçons fragrance centered on an expansive interpretation of woody notes. It forms part of the house’s broader effort to treat perfume as an experimental design medium.

• BlackpepperFragrance2016

  A fragrance built around the contrast and texture of pepper with woody and spicy elements. It reflects the brand’s preference for sharply defined, nontraditional scent concepts.

• Dover Street MarketRetail concept2004

  A curated multibrand retail platform created by Comme des Garçons and Adrian Joffe. Its stores combine fashion, accessories, art, installations, and independent labels in an environment designed as a continuously changing cultural and commercial project.

• 2017Institutional recognition of Rei Kawakubo’s workOther

  The influence of Comme des Garçons and Rei Kawakubo had become significant within modern fashion history and design culture.

  What changed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute organized an exhibition focused on Kawakubo’s work.

  Aftermath. The exhibition reinforced the house’s position as a major force in contemporary fashion and brought its design methodology to a broad museum audience.

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• 2004Creation of Dover Street MarketStrategy

  Comme des Garçons pursued a retail format that could present its own labels alongside selected designers, artists, and emerging brands.

  What changed. The company launched Dover Street Market in London with Adrian Joffe as a curated, installation-like multibrand store rather than a conventional single-brand boutique.

  Aftermath. The concept became an important part of the group’s international retail identity and was subsequently extended through additional locations and temporary formats.

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• 2020Comme des Garçons criticized over cornrow-style wigsControversy

  The fall 2020 menswear presentation used cornrowed lace-front wigs on predominantly white models. Critics described the styling as cultural appropriation; stylist Julien d’Ys apologized and said the intended reference was an Egyptian prince.

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• 2020Cornrow-style wigs at menswear showControversy

  The fall 2020 menswear show used cornrowed lace-front wigs on predominantly white models. Critics viewed the styling as appropriation of Black culture. Stylist Julien d’Ys apologized and said the intended inspiration was an Egyptian prince.

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• 2015Comme des Garçons criticized over guarachero-inspired bootsControversy

  Pointed boots in the spring/summer 2015 menswear collection prompted concerns that the design appropriated the visual tradition of Mexican pointy boots associated with Matehuala.

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• 2015G uarachero boots cultural-appropriation criticismControversy

  Boots shown in the spring/summer 2015 menswear collection resembled Mexican pointy boots associated with Matehuala. The presentation generated criticism over cultural appropriation.

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• 1995Comme des Garçons faces criticism over 1995 Sleep collectionControversy

  The Sleep collection drew international criticism after its striped pajama-like garments, identification-number imagery, and boot-print motifs were juxtaposed with Holocaust imagery in media coverage.

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• 1995Sleep collection and Holocaust imagery controversyControversy

  The Sleep collection used striped garments carrying identification numbers and military boot-print motifs. Media coverage placed images of the clothes alongside photographs from Auschwitz, prompting condemnation from the World Jewish Congress and criticism from fashion commentators. Kawakubo said the collection had been misunderstood and expressed sadness about the controversy.

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• 2017Metropolitan Museum of Art presents Rei Kawakubo exhibition

  The museum presented a major exhibition examining Kawakubo’s work and the conceptual space between fashion and art.

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• 2004Comme des Garçons opens Dover Street Market in London

  The company established its influential multi-brand retail concept in London, combining its own collections with other designers and cultural projects.

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• 2004Comme des Garçons divides production across regions and garment types

  The company reorganized production between handmade garments made in France and non-handmade production in Japan, Spain, and Turkey.

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• 1998Comme des Garçons introduces Odeur 53 anti-perfume

  Odeur 53 used a deliberately unconventional composition of non-traditional scent notes and became a notable example of the house’s experimental approach to fragrance.

  Product launch
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• 1994Comme des Garçons launches its first fragrance

  The house entered the fragrance market with its first perfume, extending its design language into unconventional scent.

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1. Comme des Garçons official website
2. Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between
3. Comme des Garçons 因玉米辫式假发受到批评
4. 大都会艺术博物馆举办川久保玲展览