Revolutionary, avant-garde and tirelessly prolific, Rei Kawakubo is the progressive designer who has long challenged conventional notions of beauty and fashionability with Comme des Garçons – the Japanese fashion brand she pioneered and has continued to front since 1969. Indeed, Kawakubo’s work is a thing of unrivalled beauty, her designs so unconventional in their splendour they stand alone amid the contemporary fashion landscape, long defying any easy categorisation.

Now, a large exhibit of Kawakubo’s womenswear for Comme des Garçons is on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through September 4. Dating back to the early 80s, the collection examines Kawakubo’s longstanding captivation with interstitiality, or the space between boundaries.