Rei Kawakubo founded Comme des Garçons in 1969 and debuted in Paris in 1981, scandalising the fashion world with her unconventional designs. Kawakubo introduced punk elements into her work in the 1990s, including design elements such as bondage straps, transparent PVC and leather. These elements recurred through her shows including "Bad Taste" in autumn-winter 2008-09 and the 2010 "Adult Delinquent" collection which featured a deconstructed harness jacket and skirt made of pieces of floral jacquard pieced together. This piece, made of white cowhide, look innocuous when viewed from the front but reveals cut outs and harness straps from the back in keeping with Kawakubo's deconstruction of fashion norms. This piece was bought by donor Lionnel Lim in the Singapore branch of Kawakubo's Dover Street Market. Lim first worked as a fashion designer-cum-merchandiser for local and regional manufacturers and later switched to writing, styling and illustrating for newspapers and various publications.
