“Rei Kawakubo / COMME des GARÇONS: Art of the In-Between” Exhibition at the MET

This month, worshipers of avant-garde fashion will make a beeline to the “Rei Kawakubo / COMME des GARÇONS: Art of the In-Between” exhibition at the Met. It’s the first solo show that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has arranged for a living designer since Yves Saint Laurent in 1983. Rei Kawakubo, the 74-year-old mastermind behind COMME des GARÇONS, was fully involved in the design of the actual exhibit, which spans 150 outfits and 35 years of work. The clothes, appointed with asymmetrical lines, wild proportions and unexpected fabrics, sometimes veer into the surreal, merging fashion with art. And though it may function as such, the exhibition should in no way be considered a retrospective, at least from the designer’s perspective. As always, Rei Kawakubo steadfastly looks forward.