by Linda Bezos

Rei Kawakubo’s status as an independent entrepreneur who has radically transformed the runway is not dispute. She is in charge of a significant self-built fashion retail empire, which is also a haven for small avant-garde designers and that is why we love her. She is not bound by trendsetting. Neither is she worried about fashion per se. She unleashes her work through the means of runways but they are mostly pieces of work as opposed to outright clothes to wear every day. Her SS18 collection is not a departure from her previous work. The giant sculptural elements were there, so were the dissection of print and silhouettes. Comme des Garçons is slowly settling into retrospective territory and that is the natural trajectory of all great artists.