Comme des Garçons has never been interested in clothes that explain themselves right away. Rei Kawakubo started making her own clothes in Tokyo in 1969, after a stint as a freelance stylist, and turned the label into a company in 1973. She opened her first Tokyo boutique in 1975 and added a menswear line, Homme, in 1978, but the moment that mattered most came in 1981, when she brought the collection to Paris and showed asymmetrical, largely black garments that critics did not know what to do with.

That same refusal to soften shows up across this group. The Tiered ruffled georgette midi skirt stacks volume instead of settling into an easy silhouette, and the Floral-appliquéd twill jacket uses appliqué to unsettle a jacket shape that would otherwise read as ordinary tailoring. The Cropped ruffled satin slim-fit capri pants and the Crepe blazer round things out with the same slightly uncooperative attitude. Nothing here is trying to be simple.

Comme des Garçons rewards patience more than it rewards an outfit that reads instantly. The ruffled and gathered pieces here look best against something plain, since two exaggerated shapes fighting for attention just tips into costume. I would start with the Georgette shirt or the Gathered satin midi skirt, both quieter versions of the same idea, before working up to the fully tiered pieces. Skip this label entirely if what you actually want is a piece that photographs well and disappears into a normal wardrobe, because that is not the assignment here. Kawakubo built her reputation on clothes that stay a little unresolved, and these hold onto that same tension decades later. Buy one piece, give it space, and let it stay strange.