The Guardian hooked a big fish with Rei Kawakubo, one of fashion's most elusive designers, for a very in-depth interview. There are a lot of things covered here that relate to the start of CdG, so I'd encourage you to read the full thing and brush up a bit on one of fashion's most important and seminal brands, but there are a couple of points that Rei absolutely bodies that we want to highlight here.
First and foremost, CdG is a literal empire. There are so many sub-brands that it's difficult to keep track of them, but under her guiding light, CdG now brings in more than $250 million in sales per year and has more than 230 storefronts and 17 different labels under its umbrella. Her principle since founding the brand had been to not over-extend or take on any extra financial backing, letting the brand and work speak for itself. Kawakubo claims the brand has never carried any debt since its founding in 1969, which is impossible to even think about. She's 72 now (though Kawakubo hasn't been officially photographed since 2005) and there have been some rumors circling lightly about her possibly retiring as the collections have taken so much energy out of her, but she says that isn't happening anytime soon and simply calls the grind "an exercise in suffering."
On that note, suck it up and fill out those fucking Excel spreadsheets.
