It was announced that "Rei Kawakubo / Comme des Garçons" will be held as a special exhibition at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in May 2017. Kawakubo is the second living designer to be selected for a special exhibition, following Yves Saint Laurent in 1983. The exhibition will feature approximately 120 pieces spanning Kawakubo's first Paris Collection in 1981 to the present. The exhibits will be arranged thematically rather than chronologically, exploring Kawakubo's long-standing interest in what lies between boundaries. The mannequins will be placed at eye level, with no barriers or other barriers. According to Andrew Bolton, curator of the Costume Institute, "Rei Kawakubo is one of the most important and influential designers of the last 40 years. She has defined the aesthetics of our time, forcing us to rethink fashion as a place of constant creation, reinvention, and hybridity." Kawakubo also commented, "I have always sought new ways of thinking about design, rejecting established values, conventions, and what is generally accepted as normal. Fusion, instability, the unfinished, removal, and lack of intention have been paramount as modes of expression." The annual Met Gala, celebrating the opening of the festival, is scheduled for May 1, 2017. Kawakubo, along with Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, and Anna Wintour, are expected to attend. *This article has been translated and written with permission from (Source: http://www.metmuseum.org/).