The old guard of fashion despised her; the critics never understood her. But for Rei Kawakubo, founder of the renowned fashion label Comme Des Garcons, that was always the point. For the more polarising a collection was, the more success it accrued. Kawakubo eschewed conventional standards of beauty, ushering in a new era of anti-fashion; a deconstructed wonderland of noir, capable of creating strong, provocative pieces for women with a defiant desire to dress in a way that reflected their own unique sensibilities. Kawakubo was born in Tokyo in 1942, the eldest of three siblings and sole daughter of the family. Her father was an administrator at Keio University; her mother, a trained English teacher whom remained at home to raise the family. Though she insisted her home life was comfortable, even ordinary, Kawakubo came from a family of divorce - a rarity in Japanese culture at the time. Her mother had wished to enter the workforce when her children came of age; her father, however, expressly forbade it. In most Japanese households during that time and of their social standing, this would have been the end of discussion: the patriarchal law meant his word was final. But the Kawakubo's were no ordinary family - their mother insisted on a divorce, leaving her husband to fulfill her dream of becoming a high school teacher. It was an act that instilled a sense of defiance in her young daughter, teaching the values of independence and determination, a defining moment that Kawakubo would look to for resolve over the course of her life. In 1960, Kawakubo attended her father's university and undertook a degree in "the history of aesthetics," a course that considered both Eastern and Western culture and art. When she graduated in 1964, she left home and without telling her parents, moved into a shared apartment in the seamy Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo. Kawakubo has always asserted she owns a duality of personality, and her early adult years did much to cultivate this notion: while the bohemian lifestyle of Harajuku spoke to her inherent desire to "break the rules," the other half - gifted through education and the affluent social circles she formed during university - held a deep concern for both "tradition and history."

The Japanese fashion designer Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons is undoubtedly one of the world's major fashion designers. In 2017 she was the second living designer to ever be given a retrospective at the renowned Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Her work exerts an extraordinary influence over succeeding generations of designers and is a major point of reference for all those wishing to explore the place of fashion in contemporary culture. The 14 essays in this collection, written by eminent fashion theorists from around the world, ask what is the relationship of Kawakubo's work to art, philosophy and architecture, and ultimately illustrate how Kawakubo's creative output allows us to understand the very notion of fashion itself.

MASTER OF FASHION Vol 39 RENEGADESBy Charlie O'BrienFeaturing,-Alexander McQueen -Yohji Yamamoto-Rei Kawakubo-Issey Miyake, -Kenzo -Malcolm McClaren -Vivienne Westwood -Jeremy Scott -Rick Owens -Hedi Slimane -John Galliano Without the designers mentioned in this book, fashion would have ultimately stagnated decades ago. Renegades, no matter their talent, perspective, or unique way of life, are those who refuse to be content with the confines of the box society deems appropriate for all. They are the dreamers, the rebels, the auteurs, without which culture would have never flourished. They push the boundaries of the box - sometimes escaping it entirely - in order to push what human beings are capable of in unique and sometimes astounding directions. In the case of broader society, renegades are men and women who revolutionised politics, science, philosophy and social values by breaking free of the status quo and enlightening others to do the same. They have protested on behalf of millions of oppressed people; created the ideas that gave birth to democracy; and revolutionised the world by refusing to accept the established order of science in favour of bold - and ultimately correct - new leaps. There is danger in acting as a renegade, to refuse the accepted rhetoric of the larger rabble in pursuit of one's own ideals, but when renegades are capable of engaging with the wider public they can inspire society to new awakenings - and once their ideas take hold in society, there can be no going back. These fashion renegades helped shape the course of human history and popular culture.Fashion Industry Broadcast's "MASTERS OF FASHION" is a series:Masters of Fashion - Vol 31 AmericansMasters of Fashion - Vol 32 AmericansMasters of Fashion - Vol 33 ItaliansMasters of Fashion - Vol 34 ItaliansMasters of Fashion - Vol 35 Heels Part 1Masters of Fashion - Vol 35 Heels Part 2Masters of Fashion - Vol 36 BagsMasters of Fashion - Vol 37 Paris Part 1 Masters of Fashion - Vol 38 Paris Part 2 Masters of Fashion - Vol 39 Lingerie Masters of Fashion - Vol 40 RenegadesFashion Industry Broadcast is a leading global publisher of lifestyle titles, this multi edition set has been created as a hard cover colour coffee table books, e-books for $19 from Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBook's, Google books, Stanza and Kobo, Apps for mobile devices and a TV documentary series is also in the works.

Widely recognized as among the most important and influential designers of the past forty years, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons has defined and transformed the visual language of our time. Since her Paris debut in 1981, she has blurred the divide between art and fashion and transformed customary notions of the body, beauty and identity. This lavishly illustrated publication weaves an illuminating narrative around Kawakubo's revolutionary experiments in interstitiality—the space between boundaries. Brilliant new photographs of more than 120 examples of Kawakubo's womenswear for Comme des Garçons, accompanied by Kawakubo's commentary on her designs and creative process, reveal her conceptual and challenging aesthetic as never before. A chronology of Kawakubo's career provides additional context, and an insightful conversation with the author offers a fascinating glimpse into the mind of this fashion visionary.

Yohji Yamamoto is a man who understands the power of endurance. The product of a Japanese culture ravaged by war, the progressive designer has built his 50-some year career on perseverance and a refusal to bend to the will of tradition. From his initial struggles as an emerging designer to his incendiary debut on the world stage, all the way through to the near collapse of his company in the wake of the global financial crisis, Yamamoto has overcome every obstacle in his path - and always on his own terms. Today, his eponymous brand offering both men's and women's clothing remains his most commercially successful venture alongside the popular sub-label Y's and youth line Ground Y to its' principal lines Pour Homme and Costume D'Homme. In 2018 the brand evolved yet again expanding into a line of perfume. His innovation has led to groundbreaking collaborations and pop culture moments, working alongside household names of fashion, reinventing icons Like Dr Martins whilst dressing icons of entertainment from Tina Turner to Elton John. Most particularly his trailblazing Y-3 range with street-sports giant Adidas, spurned a new wave of cross-genre collaborations paving the way for the now billion dollar athleisure industry. Raised by his mother, who worked as a dressmaker. Yamamoto found himself identifying more with the women of his life. His compassion for the opposite gender would eventually present itself through the construction of his couture. His collections are built primarily around the comfort and confidence clothing can provide for women, uninterested in presenting them as objects of male desire.

Over the past 40 years, Japanese designers have led the way in aligning fashion with art and ideology, as well as addressing identity and social politics through dress. They have demonstrated that both creative and commercial enterprise is possible in today's international fashion industry, and have refused to compromise their ideals, remaining autonomous and independent in their design, business affairs and distribution methods. The inspirational Miyake, Yamamoto and Kawakubo have gained worldwide respect and admiration and have influenced a generation of designers and artists alike. Based on twelve years of research, this book provides a richly detailed and uniquely comprehensive view of the work of these three key designers. It outlines their major contributions and the subsequent impact that their work has had upon the next generation of fashion and textile designers around the world. Designers discussed include: Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, Naoki Takizawa, Dai Fujiwara, Junya Watanabe, Tao Kurihara, Jun Takahashi, Yoshiki Hishinuma, Junichi Arai, Reiko Sudo & the Nuno Corporation, Makiko Minagawa, Hiroshi Matsushita, Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Walter Beirendonck, Dirk Bikkembergs, Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan and Helmut Lang.

One of the most elusive fashion designers in the world, Rei Kawakubo of Japan, is known for remaking the forms of clothes. Her sweaters full of holes, jackets with only one sleeve and dresses that are part dress and part pants are unique, yet always wearable. She says she wants to "design clothes that have never yet existed." The exhibition included over 40 key garments, costumes from and film of the Cunningham performance, photographs, runway footage and ephemera. The exhibition aimed to present a view of Kawakubo's work as a series of interventions and dis-ruptions in the arena of style and fashion: whether her work is thought of as anti-fashion in the world of fashion, or of ugliness and clumsiness in a system classically devoted to good taste, Kawakubo's work is a constant process of renewal of vocabulary and thinking.

Paris is renowned as the greatest fashion capital in the world. It has a rigid and tightly controlled system that non-western designers have difficulty penetrating. Yet a number of the most influential Japanese designers have broken into this scene and made a major impact. How? Kawamura shows how French fashion has been both disturbed and strengthened by the addition of "outside" forces such as Kenzo Takada, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, and Hanae Mori. She considers many other key questions the fashion industry should be asking itself. Does the system facilitate or inhibit creativity? Has it become preoccupied with the commercial projection of "product images" rather than with the clothing itself? And what direction will French fashion take without Saint Laurent, Miyake and Kenzo? This is the first in-depth study of the Japanese revolution in Paris fashion and raises provocative questions for the future of the industry.