The Metropolitan Museum of Art unveiled the highly anticipated theme for its 2017 Costume Institute exhibition and gala - “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons”. The all-important theme celebrates the chosen designer and sets the tone for the evening’s fashion parade, as guests are expected to match the theme of the exhibit.

A highlight of the fashion calendar, the show will open on May 4, 2017 and will be the first monograph show at The Met to shine a spotlight on a living designer since 1983, when they hosted the Yves Saint Laurent exhibition.

The Costume Institute’s curator in charge, Andrew Bolton said, “Rei Kawakubo is one of the most important and influential designers of the past forty years. By inviting us to rethink fashion as a site of constant creation, recreation, and hybridity, she has defined the aesthetics of our time.”

The exhibition will feature around 120 Comme des Garçons womenswear designs by Kawakubo, ranging from the label’s first runway collection in 1981, right through to recent shows. Kawakubo’s designs will be presented in contrasting themes - East - West, male - female, past - present, and will be displayed at eye-level with barriers between them and the audience