Designer Dosage: Rei Kawakubo

Name: Rei Kawakubo

Date of birth: 10-11-1942

Hometown: Tokyo, Japan

Brand: Comme des Garçons

Claim to Fame: Specializing in anit-fashion, austere, and deconstructed garments.

Quote: "If I do something I think is new, it will be misunderstood, but if people like it, I will be disappointed because I haven't pushed them enough. The more people hate it, maybe the newer it is. Because the fundamental human problem is that people are afraid of change. The place I am always looking for—because in order to keep the business I need to make a little compromise between my values and customers' values—is the place where I make something that could almost—but not quite—be understood by everyone.

Career: Majored in fine arts and literature at Keio University. After graduating, she worked in a textile company. Kawakubo worked with a freelance stylist in 1967. In 1973 she started her own company, Comme des Garçons Co. Ltd in Tokyo and opened up her first boutique there in 1975. Starting out with women's clothes, Kawakubo added a men's line in 1978.

Three years later, she started presenting her fashion lines in Paris each season, opening up a boutique in Paris in 1982. Rei published her own bi-annual magazine, 'Six' (standing for 'sixth sense'), in the early 1990s. In 1996 Rei was guest editor of the high art publication Visionaire.

Kawakubo is a member of the Chambre Syndicale du Pret-a-Porter.Kawakubo created the 2008 autumn "guest designer" collection at H&M, designing men's and women's clothing along with some children's and a unisex perfume.

Favs from Comme des Garçons 2010 Fall Collection: