REI KAWAKUBO
ABOUT HER WAY OF WORKING
Editor’s Letter At this point I can’t even remember when my admiration for Rei Kawakubo started. All I can say for sure is that it’s been a long time ago. I’ve always been inspired by the playfulness in her designs. It was when my dad got me her book for Christmas that my obsession with her and all her iconic sayings grew even more. She inspired me to do an entire portfolio, collection and shoot and the outfit created was one of my favourite ones I ever did. As you can see I included her rounded silhouettes, red colours and materials. I love the way she talks about her garments being just for yourself and not to attract others. And like her, the circle – weather applied on the silhouette or as an actual symbol – is a major inspiration for me. So inspirational that I even have one tattooed on my arm.
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“My energy comes from freedom and a rebellious spirit.“
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“My intention is not to make clothes. My head would be too restricted if I only thought about making clothes.“
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“I work in three tones of black“ 8
Another Magazine: Do you feel your work at Comme des Garçons has always reflected an internal approach – a focus on the heart and emotion of clothes as well as their physicality? Rei Kawakubo: It’s the only way I know how to work. AM: At what point did you realise that your most recent creative approach was no longer fulfilling and why? RK: Before the last collection. I felt it was time to change my way of doing things. Every so often I want to change completely. It’s a way, I hope, that allows me space to find something new. AM: This collection was a huge shift from the past ten collections – your collections of ‘clothes/ not clothes’ and ‘objects for the body’. What motivated that? RK: There was some reward in giving form to abstract images and making clothes that were not clothes. But I felt the approach was no longer new. I have always aimed to push forw wards, finding something ards, finding something that is
that is new, strong, and that stimulates hearts and minds. When I looked for what was next under the old approach, I couldn’t find it. Eventually, I realised ‘not design’ was still a form of design. I decided the only approach is to take what I found deep inside my mind and produce it straightforwardly, in simple form. AM: In your statement, you spoke about “advancing ahead while fumbling around in the dark”. Fashion tends to be less modest, more hubristic. In light of that, your words appear to be an open expression of vulnerability. Are you aware of a certain strength in that and of the relationship between vulnerability and power more generally? RK: There was no conscious aim or calculation to the statement. I was just hoping that an honest explanation of how I was feeling might help to explain the shift people would notice. Even though I feel I am always groping in the dark for a new idea, this time felt like such a big change. I felt the only way to change was to look inside me and
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change. I felt the only way to change was to look inside me and try to do something simple and internal. Then I thought it was necessary to try to explain that inner process, which might help people understand. I knew some people would understand and others not, but I felt it was worth risking being open and honest so that at least some people would understand. AM: How important is craft to you, the physical act of making clothes? RK: I want to try to make things that have never existed, no matter how that may be achieved. That is all I ever try to do. AM: You are interested in newness – how do you define the new in clothing? What is new for you? RK: Something not seen before. AM: Is there a difference between fashion and clothes? RK: Clothes are one part of fashion, but a very important one. AM: You have divided your work into ‘chapters’, to use our term, not yours. The work you did before you began to show in Paris, your work in Paris until
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Paris, your work in Paris until the Spring/Summer 2014 season, your period of designing objects for the body for the past ten collections and now this new period. It is rare for a designer to do, or even recognise, that. How would you describe your creative approach in each of these periods? RK: It’s an evolutionary, organic process. Nothing planned, just constant searching. AM: Do you feel connected to contemporary fashion? Do you want to be? Are you aware of how it is developing, or do you try to stay separate from its vagaries? What do you feel about fashion today? RK: I have neither the time nor the motivation to think about what’s being done elsewhere. I intend to keep on following my own principles as always. Nevertheless, I do feel that fashion should start by putting a little more effort into making things. It’s the resulting clothes that should be evaluated – wrapping them in all sorts of other stuff is kind of pointless. Regardless of what’s go-
pointless. Regardless of what’s going on around us, I have no intention of dropping my stance, of being anything but true to my own ideas, even if it means I have a tough time. AM: Do you like being a fashion designer? Do you find it inspiring, or frustrating, or perhaps both? RK: It is my job. AM: The prints on those bodysuits – the roses, the tattoos, the newsprint, the Comme des Garçons logo… were there more? Do they reflect this personal, internal approach? RK: These are only details, they have no deep meaning. Using fabric that feels good on the skin, I
they have no deep meaning. Using fabric that feels good on the skin, I produced beautifully tailored clothes and then cut them with scissors to break the spell. Those cuts were the only element of design. AM: What were the meanings of those cuts? RK: I realised afterwards that cutting into something with scissors is what you do when you cut up something old in order to move on to whatever is next. That made sense to me. From tion kubo
an email conversabetween Rei Kawaand Susannah Frankel.
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“I make clothes for a woman who is not sw what her husband th 12
a wayed by hinks.“ 13
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“For something to be beautiful it doesn’t have to be pretty.“ 15
Quotes: TOP 25 QUOTES BY REI KAWAKUBO https://www.azquotes.com/author/29603-Rei_Kawakubo> [Accessed 19 May 2020]. Interview: Frankel, S., 2020. Cover Story: A Rare Conversation With Rei Kawakubo. [online] AnOther. Available at: <https://www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/11486/cover-story-rare-interview-rei-kawakubo-comme-des-garcons-fashion-designer-2019> [Accessed 19 May 2020]. Pictures Page 4/5: McDean, C., 2017. Self/Other East/West For Metropolitan Museum Of Art Rei Kawakubo Book May 2017 (Book). [online] MODELS.com. Available at: <https:// models.com/work/book-selfother-eastwest---metropolitan-museum-of-art-rei-kawakubo-book/697315> [Accessed 20 May 2020]. Page 6: McDean, C., 2017. Self/Other East/West For Metropolitan Museum Of Art Rei Kawakubo Book May 2017 (Book). [online] MODELS.com. Available at: <https://models.com/ work/book-selfother-eastwest---metropolitan-museum-of-art-rei-kawakubo-book/697315> [Accessed 20 May 2020]. Page 7: CHEN, T., 2017. Finding Rei Kawakubo In-Between Emptiness And Space. [online] Frame Publishers. Available at: <https://www.frameweb.com/news/finding-rei-kawakubo-in-between-emptiness-and-space> [Accessed 20 May 2020]. Page 8: Seidl, W., 2019. Die Grenzgängerin: Rei Kawakubo Von Comme Des Garçons - Derstandard.At. [online] DER STANDARD. Available at: <https://www.derstandard. at/story/2000111839173/die-grenzgaengerin-rei-kawakubo-voncomme-des-garcons> [Accessed 20 May 2020]. Page 11: Pérez, L., 2020. Decoding Rei Kawakubo‘s Anti-Fashion | HIGHXTAR.. [online] HIGHXTAR. Available at: <https://highxtar.com/decoding-rei-kawakubos-anti-fashion/?lang=en> [Accessed 20 May 2020]. Page 13: Sze, B., 2017. Rei Kawakubo/Comme Des Garçons: Art Of The In-Between | Models.Com MDX. [online] MODELS.com. Available at: <https://models.com/mdx/rei-kawakubocomme-des-garcons-art-of-the-in-between/> [Accessed 20 May 2020]. Page 14: Obrist, H., 2013. Rei Kawakubo‘s Creative Manifesto - Improvised Life. [online] Improvised Life. Available at: <https://improvisedlife.com/2017/05/09/rei-kawakubos-creative-manifesto/> [Accessed 20 May 2020]. Page 15: Improvisedlife.com. 2017. [online] Available at: <https://improvisedlife.com/ wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Red-Rei-Kawakubo-for-Vogue-Paris.jpg> [Accessed 19 May 2020]. Borrelli-Persson, L., 2017. A First Look At The Met’S Major Comme Des Garçons Retrospective. [online] Vogue. Available at: <https://www.vogue.com/article/met-gala-commedes-garcons-rei-kawakubo> [Accessed 20 M