Rei Kawakubo is one of the most influential designers of our time. In the early ’80s, Kawakubo introduced the world to Japanese avant-garde—an “anti-fashion” aesthetic that defied precedent by using asymmetrical silhouettes with tattered fabrics, raw edges, distressed seams and oddly placed holes in monochromatic black, grey and white. Kawakubo’s conspicuous divergence from long-standing western design and construction canons redefined standards of beauty.