Comme des Garçons has turned the Independent Art Fair into a fashion as art landmark, presenting an archival showpiece collection inside a site specific installation conceived by Rei Kawakubo at Pier 36, New York, with all showpieces available for sale from May 14–17, 2026.

Fashion As The Fair’s Nerve Center

For the 17th edition of Independent, now staged at Pier 36 (299 South Street) on the Lower East Side, the fair’s central feature is not a painting or sculpture but a large scale Comme des Garçons environment. This marks Rei Kawakubo’s first major New York presentation since the 2017 Costume Institute retrospective “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In‑Between” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and her first solo showing at a New York art fair.

Positioned “at the heart” of the fair, the project underlines how deeply Kawakubo’s work now circulates within contemporary art discourse, not just fashion.