Rei Kawakubo quotes. “A good collection is one that scares people”: the best quotes from Rei Kawakubo

Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garcons, was born in Tokyo in 1942. She did not receive formal training as a fashion designer, but studied fine arts and literature, so she can easily convey her ideas to designers and seamstresses. After graduation, Kawakubo worked at a textile company and tried her hand as a stylist. In 1969, she came up with her own brand, calling it words from a song - Comme des Garcons (like a boy).

In 1973, Comme des Garcons Co. was founded in Tokyo. Ltd. Having started work with the creation of women's collections, in 1978 Kawakubo launched a men's line. Two years later, she moved to Paris and has since shown her seasonal collections here every year. In 1982, Comme des Garcons was accepted as a member of the Paris Pret-a-Porter Syndicate. At the same time, the first personalized boutique was opened in Paris. After a successful "invasion" in the fashion capital, Comme des Garcons clothing is often the subject of exhibitions around the world.

Since 1992, a young Japanese designer, Rei Kawakubo's protégé, Juniya Watanabe, began producing his models under the Comme des Garcons brand.

Comme des Garcons specializes in so-called anti-fashion, strict and sometimes deconstructive designs that sometimes lack sleeves or other components. These clothes, predominantly black, dark gray and white, are often displayed with combat boots.

Although Comme des Garcons' recognition around the world has increased since Kawakubo left Japan, exports account for only 10 of the brand's sales. A quarter of the stores selling Comme des Garcons products are located outside Japan and only carry a small portion of the brand's lines. Homme, Homme Deux, Tricot and Robe de Chambre are lines that are created mainly for the Japanese market. It is said that Comme des Garcons clothing is more popular than Yamamoto and Issey Miyake combined. Rei Kawakubo is still the first person and owner of Comme des Garcons Ltd. She dictates all the artistic and business policies of her company. After successfully conquering the market outside Japan, the production of Comme des Garcons clothing began to develop outside the “land of the rising sun” - mainly in France. Kawakubo has long resisted attempts to license Comme des Garcons products. Only one Italian company, Pallucco, has the right to produce fittings under this name.

Comme des Garcons lines:

Comme des Garcons - sold at Le Form

Comme des Garcons Homme (1978)

Tricot Comme des Garcons (1981)

Robe de Chambre Comme des Garcons (1981)

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Strong-willed

In 1981, in Paris, fashion critics competed in the venomous reviews of the Japanese designer’s first collection: “Hiroshima chic!”, “post-nuclear fashion.” They did not shy away from the opportunity to refer to tragic events in Japanese history. The war really influenced a whole galaxy of Japanese designers. In the 80s, they conquered Europe and the United States with their disturbing and dark collections, and the brightest star on the horizon of Japanese deconstructionism was Rei Kawakubo.

The collection was called Destroy - “Destroy”. Models marched down the runway to the beat of drums in baggy black robes with various sizes of holes, which Rae described as “our lace.” That year she was already forty years old, and her brand Comme des Garçons was ten years old, and she was quite famous in Japan. Fans of her work were called a “flock of crows” - most of the things were black.

Despite the outrage of critics, the Japanese rebel quickly gained success among the public, tired of elegant silhouettes and constraining evening dresses.
Her collections blur all boundaries: fashion and art, east and west, men's and women's, depression and meditation.

She denies trends.

A combination of incongruous things, decayed lace, worn leather, crumpled, torn fabric - Rey treats the material cruelly. To create some collections, she buried fabrics in the ground for several weeks so that they acquired the necessary texture. Expensive cashmere was boiled down to the state of felt, luxurious silk was left to fade in the sun...

Kawakubo's cut is equally radical. She admits that she hates symmetry - life begins where perfection ends.

Kawakubo defines his main task very simply: “creating things that have never existed.” It’s as if she’s blowing up the clothing design familiar to Europeans, adding extra sleeves, shifting the shirt collar to the hips, and sewing another skirt to the skirt.

In the early 90s, the dominant color in her work was black - now Kawakubo’s palette has become much richer.

One of her most significant and scandalous collections is the “Brokeback Collection” of 1997. Models appeared on the catwalk in costumes that deformed their bodies - huge shoulders and hips, asymmetrical shapes, humps...

There is not a hint of sexuality in Kawakubo's collections.

Kawakubo's experiments are based on war and feminism. In the seventies, a generation grew up in Japan that did not experience the war, but remembered the alarming atmosphere of the post-war decade. During these years, a feminist movement was formed in Japan, which, however, did not have such influence as in the West.
Rei Kawakubo often spoke about the pressure she experienced in her youth. By choosing a creative career and education instead of a family, she gained fame as a hopeless egoist. This irritated her terribly in her youth, and even now she cites anger as one of the driving forces in her work.

Her collections are a story about a woman who does not have to be attractive to men, expose herself or emphasize her figure. Rae questioned Western ideals of beauty and the ideals and rules of European fashion.

She cannot draw, prefers to explain her ideas using gestures and layouts, and works more like a sculptor than an artist. This is where her career began - Rey once worked in a fabric store and became interested in creating draperies on mannequins.

Her favorite technique is to forget. She begins a new collection by forgetting everything she has seen before. She is inspired not by fashion, but by accidents - a photograph, a person on the street, an intangible image, something in a trash can... The most difficult thing is the beginning.

Her fashion brand is called Comme des Garçons - "like boys", which, according to Rey, makes no sense.

Rey is in control. Unlike many of her colleagues, she does not limit herself to creating images, but manages the business at every stage. The atmosphere of the stores, the placement of the logo on the brochure page, the thickness of the border on the dress - all are equally important to Kawakubo. Everything should be subordinated to its philosophy and aesthetics.

Comme des Garçons boutiques often open in demolition buildings, where there is no need to spend extra money on decoration, because shabby wallpaper and peeling plaster serve as the best decorations for clothes from Rei Kawakubo.
In addition to clothing, Comme des Garçons produces accessories, perfumes, and furniture.

The fabrics for Kawakubo's collections are also created under her vigilant supervision. It invests money in textile development and in the restoration of old technologies, for example, it buys up machines from old, bankrupt industries in order to use them again. The technology for creating complex textures of Comme des Garçons items is a trade secret.

Rei Kawakubo is always on the lookout for something new.

This is what happened with the creation of perfume - Rey managed to bring very strange and shocking scents to the market. She says she uses the most unusual combinations she can think of - rubber, nail polish, volcano ash, sea water, cellulose doll hair, metal, sand, pebbles, clay, soda and faux leather. Odeur 53 contains 53 crazy ingredients! They have one thing in common: they are all non-organic, which is completely uncharacteristic for the perfume industry.
Advertising for the Comme des Garçons brand does not include images of the clothes themselves - here Rey also breaks the generally accepted rules.

Today critics say that every second designer has something from Rei Kawakubo in the collections. And she ... does not plan to stop there.

Since the creation of Comme des Garçons in 1969, Rei Kawakubo has had her own, completely unusual for society, view of clothing and presentation of the brand.

The Japanese designer made a real revolution in the fashion business by sharing her own concept of what “fashion” is. At the moment, Kawakubo is no less a visionary person, but she is still “swept by darkness,” these are the words used by the head of the famous empire to describe his eternal search for something new.

For the JAPANISM website, we found a short, very succinct and, as we thought, interesting interview published last year by Interview Magazine. It should appeal to anyone who would like to get to know the mysterious personality of Rei Kawakubo.

How would you like the wearers of Comme des Garçons clothes to feel?

What people wear is an expression of personality. If you feel comfortable in what you're wearing, you'll never have new thoughts. I want people to feel something, to think about who they are. You cannot become absolutely free if you stop thinking about clothes. Sometimes you have to allow yourself to wear something strong and dynamic, but it just makes you feel weird. But this helps to realize the fact of one’s existence, thereby confirming the existence of a relationship with society. I think people experience an indescribable feeling when they come into contact with “something” made by “someone” beyond their reach and understanding. When you put on clothes that stand up to something, you will immediately realize how you become stronger and more courageous. Clothes have the power to liberate.

What is your creative process like?

I always pursue the goal of doing something that has not been done before, “groping in the dark,” and not only when I am creating a collection. Search is a constant in my daily life. But constantly looking for something new is like looking for a well in the desert, like “drowning” in the dark, wandering in the unknown. But the very fact of creation is exactly what Comme des Garçons is built on. When I'm thinking about a new collection, I have to paint myself into a corner to find a way to get through the walls. At first, incoherent ideas appear, confusedly and slowly, then the final idea is formed.

Do you consider fashion to be an art form?

When fashion moves consciousness, I believe that in this case it can be called one of the art forms. In my work, I have no concept for the definition of “art”. Clothes take on their final form only when they begin to be worn. In this case, if clothing were art, it would be more abstract. As long as the result is something completely unknown to anyone, I don't mind if people call it art. Try wearing this, if you dare, of course.

How to balance art and commerce?

Comme des Garçons is a company based on creativity, but the business aspect cannot be ignored. As a designer who runs a company, I had the opportunity to “build” the brand and the company around the same values. I take full responsibility for what I create, from start to finish. Consequently, the result is an independent, extremely clear and final idea. Creativity and creation are our business.

What is your ultimate goal?

There is no end and no goal. As long as I try to create something that did not exist before, there can be no question of the end.

How important is the visual component of a brand?

Extremely important. I don't trust words.

What is beauty?

Beauty should bring excitement and excitement.

If you imagine the fashion industry as a directional, colorless flow, then many famous designers will be those who modified this flow: someone expanded it, someone caused sharp “bends” that directed the movement in a new direction. However, Rei Kawakubo will forever be remembered in the annals of fashion history as the one who gave color to this flow. And it’s not about the palette of her collections - it is in this regard that Rey predominantly prefers minimalism, monochromatic, black and white combinations. The point is: in a world that did not know what color was, she became the first fashion philosopher who was able to “imagine” this concept and translate it into clothes. Kawakubo discovered a completely new, previously unknown fashion dimension, which impressionable fashion critics called in every possible way - “anti-fashion”, “romance of Hiroshima”. One thing is undeniable: this woman sees something indistinguishable to other mortals, and at 73 she continues to discover not only something new - other in fashion, which is not least expressed in her ability to discern promising young talents with her “third eye.”

Kawakubo never planned to become a designer, did not study the latest issues of Vogue under the covers with a flashlight at night, and did not dream of Chanel’s success. She first entered the fashion field from a purely practical side, getting a job at a textile factory - this would later seriously affect her signature style, which is characterized by the use of new materials, modified fabrics, and a love of environmental friendliness. After that, she worked as a freelance stylist for some time, and then founded Comme Des Garçons. In short, everything that followed was a success - popularity in Japan, Parisian shows, international fame and influence, launch of men's and perfume lines, hundreds of followers, among the most famous - Ann Demeulemeester, Martin Margiela, Helmut Lang, discovery of Juni's talents Watanabe and Tao Kurihara. At the moment, the company's annual turnover is about $250 million, clothes are presented in 230 boutiques around the world, the brand's three headquarters are located in Paris, New York and Tokyo, and the Comme Des Garçons “family” includes 17 more young brands. The revolution that Kawakubo's items brought about was quiet and bloodless, and also extremely successful financially, which is almost an isolated case for a brand with such a complex and challenging philosophy. However, Rey denies both the “intellectuality” of her clothes and its complexity: “I don’t call my approach thoughtful and special; it is personally mine and it is simple, and I create images that seem beautiful and strong to me. It's not my fault that most people see the world differently. What they say about Comme Des Garçons is just the reflections of critics after the fact, attempts to find a “base” that is not there when looking at the finished result of my work.”

Kawakubo manages to combine her design talent with the savvy of a successful retailer: she was the first to hire contemporary artists to decorate her boutiques, the first to come up with pop-up stores, and the first to launch Dover Street Markets - fashionable department store-galleries, in the windows of which every aspiring designer and famous brand dreams of being in the windows. . Last year, for example, these exhibition spaces were given to Gucci, and such a “blessing” from Rey meant to Alessandro Michele, perhaps, more than a dozen laudatory reviews.

“I could never find clothes that I wanted to wear myself. And I never liked listening to others” - these two sentences probably contain the secret of Kawakubo’s success. In the 70s - a time of female emancipation and sexual liberation - Rei began to provoke social stereotypes and norms, denying gender differences, exposing models without trying to make them seductive, proclaiming comfort as both the main goal and the main obstacle for her designs (Kawakubo believes , that it is precisely “uncomfortable” outfits that force the owner to consciously wear them, to find strength and inspiration where for others there are only branded rags).

Season after season, Kawakubo creates collections that surprise and make you think - “The Ceremony of Separation”, “The Destruction of Tailoring” - the names alone suggest a considerable amount of mental work put into creating clothes. Ray says that any clothing line for her is suffering and search, and no idea can be used twice. So far, she has managed not to repeat herself, and in recent years the designer has even gradually moved away from her beloved black color. “I love black, but it has become too pop, too familiar, like jeans. I want to find the “new black,” the “black of the future.”

It is difficult to say how exactly this search will end, but it is indisputable that Rey will search until her last days - in this she is helped by her amazing flair, talent and flexibility of thought, which allows her to remain among the leading designers of our time in her eighties. Everyone who came to the fashion industry after Kawakubo owes her a piece of their inspiration; they took from her collections, if not literal forms and motifs, then that very “color” - the right to take risks, to reject all previously existing tendencies and trends, the right present your own vision only. “I don’t like the word feminist,” says Rae. – I don’t like the word “ambitious”. I like the word ‘anti-institution’.” She likes everything that goes against the norm, but there is nothing about punk or other rebellious movements. Her rebellion is calm, restrained and prefers gray and black colors. Confront the world with dignity, being a small, fragile Japanese girl with a black bob on her head? Yes, that’s how it is - and that’s the only way fashion revolutions happen. Unfortunately, neither the tanned Donatella nor the confident businesswoman Diana are capable of them. Perhaps, in some ways, Phoebe Philo has come closer to Rey - they, by the way, have many similarities in character, dislike of publicity and direction in design. Who will replace Kawakubo, who will give the fashionable “flow” another, previously unknown facet? We'll see. However, another unconditional merit of Rei is that she tirelessly prepares her replacement, and through her efforts the fashion world will not be left without the prophets of the Japanese school.

– post-nuclear fashion. Remembering the creative style of Yohji Yamamoto, who proclaimed black the king in the world of color, a parallel is often drawn with the work of another conceptual designer who came from Japan to conquer the world of European and American fashion with his unique models. Rei Kawakubo is a woman who does not accept three things: symmetry, labels and limitations. This position is reflected in the models she creates and is constantly supplemented with new touches. Her collections are unique.

Rei Kawakubo: biography

Rei Kawakubo originally trained as an art critic, studying Eastern and Western aesthetics. Such education, together with experience in the marketing department of a large Japanese brand and interest in textile technologies, determined the future path of Rei Kawakubo as a brilliant conceptual designer, whose collections are not intended for a mass audience.

Rei Kawakubo's first try on the European podium brought resounding success, which literally stunned, and at the same time blinded, the clichéd audience of the Old World. Fashion critics called this collection of hers “Hiroshima-chic” for the use of exclusively black color and asymmetrical models, which are at the apotheosis of the grotesque.

Rei Kawakubo: career

From that moment on, all subsequent Kawakubo collections became like an intellectual journey through the depths of human essence. She never draped her models in elegant outfits, the silhouettes were roughly torn, the sleeves were either not fully sewn or slightly torn, twisted figures deformed the models’ bodies. But this type of her collections does not at all indicate Kawakubo’s hatred of people or this world; it proclaims a protest against symmetry in its meaning, which seemed unacceptable to Rei Kawakubo - dead symmetry. Her position is that beauty begins where empty ideality ends.

Rei Kawakubo: collections

Despite the fact that the designer collections from Rei Kawakubo seemed to forever secure for her the label of a woman who represents “anti-fashion,” the Japanese woman herself has always been somewhat contemptuous about such an assessment, considering such labels to be the highest manifestation of stupidity. Some of her creations actually make a somewhat depressing impression, for example, her “humpbacked collection,” which questioned the ideal of the female body. Models acquired humps, hips became asymmetrical, and shoulders “swollen”, however, Rei Kawakubo’s creative baggage includes not only such extremes, combining more delicate and elegant images.

Rei Kawakubo is the brightest representative of conceptual design, whose works determined the artistic style of many Belgian conceptualists, formed the basis for dance performances, synthesizing a complete separation from the financial side of design and a pure desire for eternal search.