Rei Kawakubo Quotes

Powerful Rei Kawakubo for Daily Growth

About Rei Kawakubo

Rei Kawakubo (born October 4, 1942) is a renowned Japanese fashion designer, artist, and founder of the Comme des Garçons brand. Born in Tokyo, Kawakubo showed an early interest in art and design, and at the age of 18, she moved to Tokyo's Tachikawa district to study painting. However, her passion for fashion led her to drop out and open her first boutique, Severe, in 1969. In 1973, Kawakubo founded Comme des Garçons, a brand that quickly became synonymous with avant-garde design. Her work defied traditional notions of beauty and gender norms, often featuring asymmetrical shapes, deconstructed forms, and the use of unconventional materials such as plastic, leather, and silk. This innovative approach earned her recognition in the fashion industry and a devoted following among artists, celebrities, and fashion enthusiasts. Kawakubo's influence extends beyond clothing design. She has collaborated with artists like Tobias Rehberger and Tatsuo Miyajima, and designed sets for opera and dance performances. In 2017, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City held an exhibition dedicated to her work, titled "Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between." Kawakubo's designs have been showcased at fashion weeks around the world, including Paris, Milan, and New York. She has received numerous accolades for her work, including the Officer of the Order of the Rising Sun in 2010, the CFDA International Award in 2016, and the Praemium Imperiale in 2017. Despite her success, Kawakubo remains a humble and enigmatic figure, preferring to let her work speak for itself. Her influence on contemporary fashion continues to grow, as she continues to challenge conventional notions of beauty and design.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Fashion is a way to express your personality, to show the world who you are."

This quote by Rei Kawakubo suggests that fashion serves as a vehicle for self-expression, allowing individuals to present their unique identities and personalities to the world. It emphasizes that clothing choices can be significant in conveying one's individuality and creative spirit, making fashion an essential component of self-identity and communication.

"The best fashion is the least fashion."

Rei Kawakubo's quote emphasizes that the most effective fashion is the simplest, unassuming, and least trend-driven. It suggests that a timeless, understated style, which avoids following fleeting trends, often yields the best results. This quote underscores the value of individuality and self-expression over conforming to popular aesthetics.

"I am interested in the unknown and the mystery that comes from not being able to explain everything."

This quote suggests a curiosity towards the unexplored, the enigmatic, and the uncharted territories of life and art. Rei Kawakubo is expressing her fascination with aspects of existence that defy conventional understanding or explanation. In essence, she appreciates the unknown and the mystery it provides, as they foster creativity and stimulate intellectual growth by encouraging us to delve deeper and ponder beyond our current knowledge boundaries.

"I have no interest in clothes for their own sake. I'm interested in making women more beautiful, or enhancing their beauty."

Rei Kawakubo's quote signifies her focus on fashion as a tool to augment the inherent beauty within individuals rather than merely creating clothing as an end goal in itself. Her design philosophy emphasizes enhancing women's natural allure, capturing the essence of human elegance and grace through her creations. This perspective highlights Kawakubo's dedication to promoting self-expression, individuality, and empowerment through fashion.

"In our world there are few rules."

Rei Kawakubo's statement "In our world, there are few rules" signifies a creative freedom that embraces innovation, originality, and the absence of conventional limitations in design, self-expression, or art. It suggests a world where boundaries are blurred, allowing for limitless possibilities and a rejection of traditional norms. This mindset encourages individuals to challenge the status quo and pioneer new paths, embodying a spirit of rebellion that ultimately leads to remarkable artistic achievements.

If you have total freedom to design, you won't get anything interesting. So I give myself restraints in order to kind of push myself through, to create something new. It's the torture that I give myself, the pain and the struggle that I go through.

- Rei Kawakubo

Through, Anything, Total, Total Freedom

The Dover Street Markets bring brands of all disciplines together to sell their products in an open atmosphere that, most importantly, incites creativity. They are, along with the 'Comme des Garcons' stores, usually located in areas off the beaten track.

- Rei Kawakubo

Atmosphere, Importantly, Brands

For me, the best way to know me is to look at my clothing.

- Rei Kawakubo

Me, Know, Best Way, Clothing

My approach is simple. It is nothing other than what I am thinking at the time I make each piece of clothing, whether I think it is strong and beautiful. The result is something that other people decide.

- Rei Kawakubo

Strong, Think, Other, Clothing

When you put on clothes that are fighting against something, you can feel your courage grow. Clothing can set you free.

- Rei Kawakubo

Grow, Against, Set, Clothing

I built my work from within instead of satisfying a demand for sexualised and ostentatious clothing.

- Rei Kawakubo

Work, Within, Built, Clothing

As I live my normal life, I hope to find something that click starts a thought, and then something totally unrelated would arise, and then maybe a third unconnected element would come from nowhere.

- Rei Kawakubo

Thought, Normal, Maybe, Normal Life

Fashion alone is so far from being the whole story. It seems that with fashion, as with art, things are getting easier in one sense, but at the same time, it is getting harder to be stimulated about things or excite people.

- Rei Kawakubo

Art, Stimulated, Same Time, Excite

I've always said that, growing up in postwar Japan, I never felt any connection to my work through those experiences. The work I do really comes from inside myself. For me, being born in Japan was an accident.

- Rei Kawakubo

Inside, Through, Japan, Postwar

Growing up in postwar Japan has made me the person I am, but it is not why I do the work I do. It is a very personal thing - everything comes from inside.

- Rei Kawakubo

Made, Very, Japan, Postwar

The corporateness of the fashion industry tends to take away or distort the freedom of creation.

- Rei Kawakubo

Freedom, Away, Take, Fashion Industry

I do not feel happy when a collection is understood too well.

- Rei Kawakubo

Happy, Feel, Too, Understood

If I do something I think is new, it will be misunderstood, but if people like it, I will be disappointed because I haven't pushed them enough. The more people hate it, maybe the newer it is. Because the fundamental human problem is that people are afraid of change.

- Rei Kawakubo

Maybe, I Think, Fundamental, Misunderstood

The main pillar of my activity is making clothes, but this can never be the perfect and only vehicle of expression.

- Rei Kawakubo

Never, Expression, Making, Pillar

I would have liked to invent the plain white shirt, with a skirt and pants to go with it.

- Rei Kawakubo

White, Shirt, Would, Skirt

My design process never starts or finishes. I am always hoping to find something through the mere act of living my daily life. I do not work from a desk and do not have an exact starting point for any collection.

- Rei Kawakubo

Life, Through, Point, Finishes

Often in each collection, there are three or so seeds of things that come together accidentally to form what appears to everyone else as a final product, but for me, it is never ending.

- Rei Kawakubo

Product, Everyone Else, Accidentally

The first thing you need in order to make a business viable is to preserve a cash flow. I made sure I didn't have any financial backing or support.

- Rei Kawakubo

Business, Need, Sure, Flow

I always had good reactions from people with a good eye and a vision... and very terrible reactions from those who are afraid of people who are different to others - at the beginning and even now. I have never worried about it too much.

- Rei Kawakubo

Beginning, Very, About, Reactions

Clothes are only completed when somebody actually wears them. If they were art, they could be more abstract. As long as something is new and has never been seen before, I don't mind if people call it art. Wear them if you dare.

- Rei Kawakubo

Been, Wear, Before, Completed

I am always thinking that some interesting possibility, some accidental synergy, could occur in a collaboration, and people seem to like it.

- Rei Kawakubo

Synergy, Some, Always, Accidental

Many parts of the media have created the situation where uninteresting fashion can thrive.

- Rei Kawakubo

Parts, Where, Created, Uninteresting

I'm always looking to make something that didn't exist before, fumbling about in the dark, not just while making a collection. The search for something new is a constant in my everyday life. But constantly searching for something new is like looking for a well in a desert.

- Rei Kawakubo

Searching, Constant, Before, Everyday

What's interesting about collaborations is the possibility for one plus one to equal three.

- Rei Kawakubo

Equal, About, Collaborations, Possibility

The place I am always looking for - because in order to keep the business, I need to make a little compromise between my values and customers' values - is the place where I make something that could almost - but not quite - be understood by everyone.

- Rei Kawakubo

Values, Almost, Quite, Understood

My intention is not to make clothes. My head would be too restricted if I only thought about making clothes.

- Rei Kawakubo

Thought, Making, About, Restricted

What you wear can largely govern your feelings and your emotions, and how you look influences the way people regard you. So fashion plays an important role on both the practical level and the aesthetic level.

- Rei Kawakubo

Emotions, Aesthetic, Plays, Feelings

I give myself limits - not only financial limits, but I also limit my method of expression, and from within those limits, I try to come up with something new and interesting.

- Rei Kawakubo

New, Give, Expression, Limits

Not everyone necessarily needs new things all the time and creative designs. It's good to have luxury restaurants and fast-food restaurants. You need both.

- Rei Kawakubo

New Things, New, Needs, Designs

I want to create a market where people from all walks of life can encounter each other in an atmosphere of beautiful chaos, the coming together of kindred souls.

- Rei Kawakubo

Chaos, Other, Atmosphere, Encounter

Collaborations have no meaning if 1 + 1 does not equal much more than 2.

- Rei Kawakubo

Meaning, Equal, Does, Collaborations

Creation takes things forward. Without anything new there is no progress. Creation equals new.

- Rei Kawakubo

New, Forward, Equals, Creation

For me, creation can only come out of a certain kind of unhappiness. They say in Japan, this thing like the hungry spirit - the hungry mind - is what gets you going forward.

- Rei Kawakubo

Mind, Like, Japan, Creation

The more people that are afraid when they see new creation, the happier I am.

- Rei Kawakubo

New, More, More People, Creation

All kinds of ways of expression are spreading out all over the place, information is overflowing, and it's harder and harder to be excited about anything.

- Rei Kawakubo

Excited, Expression, Over, Overflowing

I'm not very happy to be classified as another Japanese designer. There is no one characteristic that all Japanese designers have.

- Rei Kawakubo

Japanese, Very, Designers, Characteristic

The most successful achievers in sports are people that are really driven and have that spirit of hunger.

- Rei Kawakubo

Sports, Driven, Most, Achievers

I only came to Paris with the intention of showing what I thought was strong and beautiful. It just so happened that my notion was different from everybody else's.

- Rei Kawakubo

Strong, Thought, Everybody, Intention

I don't like to explain the clothes, how I made them, the theme, et cetera. It's because the clothes are just as you see them and feel them. That's what I want... just see and feel them.

- Rei Kawakubo

Like, Explain, Made, Theme

The monsters I thought about are those that don't fit in - those who think differently from the majority, the people of exception, outsiders. I wish that society would place more importance and value on these kinds of monsters.

- Rei Kawakubo

Thought, Exception, About, Outsiders

I don't like the word 'feminist.' I don't like the word 'ambitious.' I do like the word 'anti-establishment.'

- Rei Kawakubo

Word, Like, Ambitious, Feminist

Even though it is difficult, it is easier for me to make my own things, by myself.

- Rei Kawakubo

My Own, Though, Even, Easier

In response to the making of DSMNY, a change in the Chelsea store became necessary. My flagship stores always have to lead the way.

- Rei Kawakubo

Always, Chelsea, Became, Response

I think the media has some responsibility to bear for people becoming more conservative.

- Rei Kawakubo

Think, Conservative, Some, Bear

I want to make a shop that's unlike any that already exists.

- Rei Kawakubo

Want, Shop, Exists, Unlike

I don't like to use expensive materials. I take care to make costs reasonable. It's very similar to the way I make clothes.

- Rei Kawakubo

Costs, Very, Similar, Clothes

This idea of collaborating with designers - that's something I can identify with.

- Rei Kawakubo

Idea, Designers, Identify, Collaborating

I want to show people that tailoring has value, which I don't see anymore in men's fashion.

- Rei Kawakubo

Want, Show, Which, Fashion

It's interesting for me to sell Comme des Garcons in places it's never been sold before to people who might not have heard of Comme des Garcons.

- Rei Kawakubo

Been, Before, Sold, Heard

I don't look very much at magazines or go to vintage stores.

- Rei Kawakubo

Vintage, Go, Very, Stores

What someone wears is an expression of oneself. When you're just comfortable with what you're wearing, you don't have new thoughts. I want people to feel something and think about who they are.

- Rei Kawakubo

Thoughts, Think, New, Oneself

I was not thinking about the age of Internet when I was making the fall-winter 2012 collection.

- Rei Kawakubo

Making, About, Collection, Internet

I am just working every day, day to day, with what I believe. It's a very ordinary way of dealing with your life - just dealing with your work.

- Rei Kawakubo

Work, Dealing, Very, Ordinary

According to research,when given a choice, babies choose gold. It's my favourite colour after black and red.

- Rei Kawakubo

Black, Given, According, Favourite

In order to be stimulated or moved in the future, we probably have to go into space and look at our world from there.

- Rei Kawakubo

Go, Our World, Moved, Stimulated

I am not aware I am an icon.

- Rei Kawakubo

I Am, Aware, Am, Icon

I work in three shades of black.

- Rei Kawakubo

Work, Black, Three, Shades

I'm not an artist: I'm a businesswoman. Well, maybe an artist/businesswoman.

- Rei Kawakubo

Artist, Well, Maybe, Businesswoman

Although I do not believe in fame, what it brings me is the fact that I can ask someone to work with me, and they do not say no.

- Rei Kawakubo

Fact, Brings, Although, Fame

I can understand how some women want to marry a rich man. They may be happy for the rest of their lives, but they will never be free.

- Rei Kawakubo

Rest, Some, May, Be Happy

I don't think of myself as anyone special, and I would not know how to define myself.

- Rei Kawakubo

Think, Special, How, Define

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