At the 2026 edition of the Independent Art Fair, Rei Kawakubo presents a rare large-scale installation for Comme des Garçons at Pier 36, on view from May 14th to 17th. Conceived specifically for the fair, the project marks Kawakubo’s first solo presentation at a New York art fair and arrives nearly a decade after the landmark 2017 Costume Institute exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Constructed from exposed rebar and coloured plastic joints, the installation cuts through the centre of the fair as a raw architectural environment. Inside, visitors encounter more than twenty semi-unique Comme des Garçons “objects for the body” drawn from collections produced over the past five years.
Art Fair becomes a stage for Kawakubo’s sculptural fashion language
Freed from runway chronology and seasonal framing, the pieces stand as sculptural forms charged with tension and emotion. Rather than garments in the conventional sense, they read as autonomous objects suspended between fashion and contemporary art.
Each work was produced in editions of three or fewer, with only one version of each available for purchase during the fair. Prices reportedly range from $9,000 to $30,000 USD.
The presentation also sharpens the growing dialogue between fashion and contemporary art that increasingly defines New York’s cultural landscape. Independent Art Fair founder Elizabeth Dee positioned the Comme des Garçons installation as the fair’s centrepiece, introducing a more visceral and experimental energy into the commercial fair setting.
Photography by ANDY ROMER / CKA
Courtesy of COMME DES GARÇONS
