2017 offered a series of high notes for Rei Kawakubo and her husband, Adrian Joffe — the founder/designer and CEO, respectively, of COMME des GARÇONS. As well as an assortment of seasonal collections under its family of brands, COMME des GARÇONS continued its track record of must-have collaborations — Supreme’s joint Comme des Garçons SHIRT offering sold out instantly, as did February’s Nike VaporMax release, arguably the most popular sneaker drop of the year. Meanwhile, Kawakubo and Joffe’s boundary-pushing concept shop Dover Street Market further solidified its status as a must-visit store for the fashion-forward with a selection of contemporary goods and labels. The company also announced plans to expand DSM into Los Angeles with a Kawakubo-designed outpost. On top of the brand’s continued successes, what truly established 2017 as The Year of COMME was May’s Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Spring 2017 exhibit. Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between was only the second Met exhibit to focus on a living designer, drawing large crowds into its Kawakubo-designed interior to view selections from the brand’s lauded archive.