Rei Kawakubo blessed Style.com with a rare interview, which means you need to check it out. The mastermind behind the brand that is Comme des Garçons talks about the future of the fashion industry, her first show in Paris, why she doesn't do interviews often, and so much more. Read a few excerpts below.
Matthew Schneier: Do you feel that the fashion industry has become too corporate?
Rei Kawakubo: The corporateness of the fashion industry tends to take away or distort the freedom of creation.
MS: When you first decided to show in Paris, were you apprehensive about what the reaction would be? Did the reaction you received surprise you?
RK: 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.
MS: You are one of a handful of designers who generally prefer not to give interviews. Does fashion—either all fashion or your own fashion—lose something in the explanation?
RK: 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. How I thought about them, where any idea came from, what the process is, is not something I like talking about to people.
MS: Some have complained that fashion has stagnated; you yourself have said that the media has enabled uninteresting fashion to thrive. Can this situation change? What would allow that to happen?
RK: I doubt the situation can change. It's because in the world where money rules, the appreciation of the value of true creation is low.
MS: How would you like to be remembered?
RK: I want to be forgotten.
Check out the rest of the interview here.
[via Style.com]
