In the 1980’s Japanese designers challenged the principles of Western fashion by introducing clothing that draped and wrapped the body, concealing its contours and silhouette. Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garcons, Yohji Yamamoto and other avant-garde Japanese fashion designers rejected the idea that women’s clothing had to fit an idealized hourglass-shaped female body. Their innovative designs set new standards for shape and proportion and coined a contemporary definition of universal beauty. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.