If you ask anyone who’s even remotely interested in fashion what the most iconic Japanese house is, there’s a high chance that they’d bring up Comme des Garçons. Founded by the legendary Rei Kawakubo back in 1969, the brand’s name was inspired by Françoise Hardy’s 1962 song Tous les garçons et les filles, particularly the line “Comme les garçons et les filles de mon âge.” CdG became a smashing success in Japan in the ’70s, and in 1981, it made its Paris debut, eventually taking over runways around the globe.

Over the past six decades, Comme des Garçons has collaborated with everyone from Converse and Nike to Supreme. It’s also home to a vast selection of diffusion lines and sub-labels, including Homme (mostly menswear), Evergreen (a refresh of past seasons), Shirt (colourful takes on wardrobe staples), Tricot (knitwear focused), Black (a little more affordable), and probably the most popular of them all, Play (known by the cute heart emoji).

The Comme universe also a few talented designers under its umbrella, including Fumito Ganryu, Gosha Rubchinskiy, Junya Watanabe, and Kei Ninomiya. It’s worth noting that since Spring/Summer 2019, Ganryu is no longer affiliated with CdG.