Rick Owens
gothic avant-garde RTW
Avant Designer · United States
Quality
9.5/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
10 of 10
Reputation
9 of 10
Loud · Casual
Avant Designer
Segment · 20 labels
Avant-garde designer brands, ranked by quality
20 labels in our index, ranked by editorial quality score
Conceptual, silhouette-first design houses that treat clothing as argument. The 20 avant designer labels in this edition average 8.0/10 for quality with typically premium prices. Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto and Junya Watanabe set the tone.
Labels
20
Avg quality
8.0
Median price
$$$$+
All labels in this group
Yohji Yamamoto
draped black tailoring
Avant Designer · Japan
Quality
9/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
10 of 10
Reputation
9 of 10
Timeless
Junya Watanabe
experimental tailoring and collabs
Avant Designer · Japan
Quality
9/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
9.5 of 10
Reputation
8.5 of 10
Trendy
Sacai
hybridized technical tailoring
Avant Designer · Japan
Quality
9/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
9 of 10
Reputation
8 of 10
Trendy
Setchu
precise Japanese-Italian tailoring
Avant Designer · Italy
Quality
9/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
8.5 of 10
Reputation
7 of 10
Quiet
Issey Miyake
technical pleated RTW
Avant Designer · Japan
Quality
8.5/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
10 of 10
Reputation
9 of 10
Balanced
Comme des Garçons
conceptual avant-garde RTW
Avant Designer · Japan
Quality
8/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
10 of 10
Reputation
10 of 10
Trendy · Loud
Maison Margiela
deconstructed luxury RTW
Avant Designer · France
Quality
8/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
10 of 10
Reputation
9.5 of 10
Trendy
Wales Bonner
cultured tailoring and knitwear
Avant Designer · United Kingdom
Quality
8/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
9.5 of 10
Reputation
9 of 10
Balanced
Craig Green
sculptural workwear and outerwear
Avant Designer · United Kingdom
Quality
8/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
9 of 10
Reputation
8 of 10
Trendy · Casual
Homme Plissé Issey Miyake
pleated menswear
Avant Designer · Japan
Quality
8/10
Price
$$$
Design
9 of 10
Reputation
8 of 10
Balanced
Marni
artful prints and proportion
Avant Designer · Italy
Quality
8/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
9 of 10
Reputation
8 of 10
Trendy · Loud
Undercover
punk-inflected streetwear
Avant Designer · Japan
Quality
8/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
9 of 10
Reputation
8 of 10
Trendy · Loud · Casual
Ann Demeulemeester
poetic dark tailoring
Avant Designer · Belgium
Quality
8/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
8.5 of 10
Reputation
7.5 of 10
Balanced
IM Men
technical menswear and pleats
Avant Designer · Japan
Quality
8/10
Price
$$$
Design
8 of 10
Reputation
7 of 10
Casual
Willy Chavarria
voluminous tailoring with street influence
Avant Designer · United States
Quality
7/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
9.5 of 10
Reputation
8 of 10
Trendy · Loud
Marine Serre
futurist crescent-moon RTW
Avant Designer · France
Quality
7/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
8 of 10
Reputation
7 of 10
Trendy · Loud · Casual
MM6 Maison Margiela
diffusion deconstruction and basics
Avant Designer · France
Quality
7/10
Price
$$$
Design
8 of 10
Reputation
7 of 10
Trendy · Casual
Nensi Dojaka
strappy eveningwear
Avant Designer · United Kingdom
Quality
7/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
8 of 10
Reputation
7 of 10
Trendy · Loud · Formal
Coperni
viral tech-inflected RTW
Avant Designer · France
Quality
6.5/10
Price
$$$$+
Design
8 of 10
Reputation
7 of 10
Trendy · Loud
Other segments
Scores are editorial judgments — how we score.