In 1981, Rei Kawakubo debuted her unique collections on the runways of Paris despite a lack of formal training. In recent years, she's retreated from the limelight and refuses to talk to the press.

But her work has arrived at Detroit's Museum of Contemporary Art and Design. Kawakubo's most notable collection is from 1997, which consisted of garments patterned with stripes of bold colors. Distorted shapes were placed within the clothing to remove any trace of the female form. Commenting about the collection, the label responded to cultural interests in 1998: "(The) human outline is morphing: cell phones, Walkmen . extend our shape in public." Kawakubo did not see these items as accessories but almost as parasites that became part of the user's being.

The exhibit is remarkably intimate. Each display is designed to resemble a trash dump: Graffitti on the walls and crumpled paper on the ground serve as the backdrop for Kawakubo's clothing. She's famous for constantly inventing new silhouettes. In comparison, the rest of the fashion world represents something of a wasteland. Going beyond the cliché of reinvention, each one of Kawakubo's collections comes across as a fluid transformation of ideas, instead of forced change.

Purposely designed like a cocoon, the exhibit was built to mirror Kawakubo's aesthetic - placing a lot of detailing on the inside of clothes and then fade to simplicity on the outside. Most of the more complex displays are toward the center of the exhibit, and as you spiral outward, television monitors and white signs display the history behind the brand.

The collection as a whole is almost indescribable - it cannot be classified as any particular style. Many Victorian dresses are displayed in pastel colors, with frayed hems and tears; and in stark contrast, a crisp checkered trench, made out of clear vinyl is present in the midst of torn newspapers and magazines. To change direction again, gray voluminous capes are draped on mannequins that could easily fit into the world of Neo and Morpheus in the "Matrix."

ReFUSING FASHION: Rei Kawakubo
Feb. 8 through Apr. 20
At MOCAD