[2] Her early life in Japan was summarized by Judith Thurman in a New Yorker article from 2005 stating: "She was the oldest of her parents' three children and their only daughter... Their father was an administrator at Keio University, an institution founded by the Meiji educator and reformer Fukuzawa Yukichi, a champion of Western culture and, according to Kawakubo, of women's rights.

As reported by Thurman, "In 1960, Kawakubo enrolled in her father's university and took a degree in 'the history of aesthetics', a major that included the study of Asian and Western art.

After the end of her first decade with Comme de Garcons, in 1982, Kawakubo began to express her dissatisfaction with the early direction of some of her design ideas stating: "Three years ago I became dissatisfied with what I was doing.

"[7] By 1980, CDG had flourished and according to Thurman, "had a hundred and fifty franchised shops across Japan, eighty employees, and annual revenues of thirty million dollars.

Challenging the established notions of beauty she created an uproar at her debut Paris fashion show where journalists labeled her clothes 'Hiroshima chic' amongst other things.

She is greatly involved in graphic design, advertising, and shop interiors believing that all these things are a part of one vision and are inextricably linked.

Prior to 2002, Kawakubo has continued support for the use of LGBT references and cultural themes in the photography used in her advertisement and marketing campaigns promoting her clothing and accessories.

[11] During the interviews broadcast, Alexander McQueen stated: "When Kawakubo designs a collection, it seems kind of absurd, not just to the general public.

It made a very strong impression because fashion in general was something that we were starting to discover and Rei Kawakubo was part of this ... an enormous outburst of creativity in the beginning of the 80s.

Comme des Garçons have collaborated with various other labels over the years including Fred Perry, Levi's, Converse All Star, Speedo, Nike, Moncler, Lacoste, Cutler and Gross, Chrome Hearts, Hammerthor,[18] S. N. S. Herning, Louis Vuitton, Supreme, and many others.

[21] Rei is also known for establishing Dover Street Market, whose design ethos can be described as a Comme Des Garcons version of a department store.

Originally created in 2004 in London's Dover Street, more DSM locations have opened in Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, New York and Los Angeles.

[22] In an article for Business of Fashion in April 2017, Tim Blanks reported generated revenue for CDG and its affiliates as "over $280 million a year".

[23] Vogue magazine and the Metropolitan Museum in New York have announced that an exhibition dedicated to Kawakubo is scheduled for its 2017 season between 4 May 2017 and 4 September 2017.

[1] In an interview with Vogue in April 2017, Andrew Bolton, the curator for the Kawakubo exhibit at the Met stated: "I really think her influence is so huge, but sometimes it’s subtle.

[24] Bolton also stated that the exhibit in May 2017 is to be titled "Art of the In-Between", and will be an austere, all-white maze hosting approximately 150 Comme ensembles.

Both the exhibit and accompanying book by Bolton are based upon the recurrent fashion dichotomies concentrating on nine thematic conceptual pairings listed as: (1) absence/presence; (2) design/not design; (3) fashion/antifashion; (4) model/multiple; (5) high/low; (6) then/now; (7) self/other; (8) object/subject; and (9) clothes/not clothes.

The exhibition shows about 150 pieces of Kawakubo’s women’s wear for Comme des Garçons, from the early 1980s to the present day.

It is a partnership with its own rhythms—while Joffe is based in Paris, his wife lives in Tokyo, in the upscale Aoyama neighborhood, walking distance to CDG’s flagship.