Comme des Garçons コム デ ギャルソン

Comme des Garçons ('like boys' in French) was founded in Tokyo in 1969 by Rei Kawakubo, who had no formal fashion training, and was incorporated as a company in 1973. Within Japan the label quickly built a large network of shops, but it was Kawakubo's April 1981 Paris debut — presented alongside fellow Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto — that redefined the label internationally: oversized, asymmetrical, deliberately 'unfinished' garments in almost entirely black, a stark contrast to the era's fitted, colorful Western fashion.

The Paris show, later nicknamed by critics 'Hiroshima chic,' challenged conventional ideas of beauty and silhouette and is regarded as a turning point in avant-garde fashion history. Comme des Garçons has since built an influential portfolio of sub-labels (such as PLAY, with its heart logo) and become known for boundary-pushing runway collections and its Dover Street Market retail concept, while Kawakubo remains the company's guiding designer.