Rei Kawakubo is one of the world's best known fashion designers, but never sketches. In this interview, she discusses her unusual design process, how she set up Comme des Garçons and why she won't be pigeonholed.
"I design the company, not pieces of clothing," Kawakubo told Dezeen.
"It's nothing about clothes, it's a different way to express my value of Comme des Garçons," she explained.
Kawakubo said that, ever since she established the brand in Tokyo back in 1969, she has always had creative control.
"It's the only brand in the world that works like that A-Z," she said. "If my eyes aren't on it, it's not Comme des Garçons."
"Not an artist, not a fashion designer"
Comme des Garçons is one of the most influential fashion houses in the world right now, with stores in several countries, including Japan, the USA, France and the UK. Both the brand and its founder featured in a major exhibition at The Met in New York in 2017. However Kawakubo never studied fashion. Instead she started out by getting a job in a textile factory, where she began styling. After struggling to find the clothes she wanted, she started designing her own, and eventually set up her company.
Comme des Garçons has been creating avante-garde designs since 1969
Her ambition was never to become a designer.
"I'm not an artist, not a fashion designer," Kawakubo explained.
"I always wanted to use fashion as a tool, as a material to make a bu...