Rei Kawakubo

Rei Kawakubo founded Comme des Garcons in Tokyo in 1969 and became the first living designer in 40 years to receive a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2017), after only Yves Saint Laurent received that distinction. Her 'holes and bumps' collection (1981) — featuring deliberate tears and asymmetries — was called 'Hiroshima chic' by French critics and launched the entire deconstructivist fashion movement.