Fashioning the Avant-Garde

Avant-garde, unconventional and thoroughly influential, the work of Japanese fashion designer Rei Kawakubo is the subject of this year’s Costume Institute exhibition at the Met Fifth Avenue, Art of the In-Between. Known for her boundary-stretching work, Kawakubo creates haute-couture that has more in common with art than it does apparel. The force behind coveted clothing label Comme des Garçons is only the second living designer to be feted at the museum (the first was Yves Saint Laurent in 1983). The exhibit features 150 outfits, all arranged by collection and theme (Order/Chaos, for example, or—perhaps more to the point—Clothes/Not Clothes). Click through this gallery to see some of our favorites.