Rei Kawakubo

I am not aware I am an icon.

— Rei Kawakubo

For me, I haven't succeeded in any way whatsoever.

— Rei Kawakubo

The same spirit runs through everything I do.

— Rei Kawakubo

I work in three shades of black.

— Rei Kawakubo

Feeling free inside oneself is being free.

— Rei Kawakubo

Beauty is whatever anyone thinks is beautiful.

— Rei Kawakubo

My energy comes from freedom and a rebellious spirit.

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

I make clothes for a woman who is not swayed by what her husband thinks.

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

All kinds of ways of expression are spreading out all over the place, information is overflowing, and it's harder and harder to…

— Rei Kawakubo

For me, creation can only come out of a certain kind of unhappiness. They say in Japan, this thing like the hungry…

— Rei Kawakubo

I've always said that, growing up in postwar Japan, I never felt any connection to my work through those experiences. The work…

— Rei Kawakubo

I'd make my whole collection with just one square of fabric. I wouldn't do anything else; everything had to be made from…

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

In the '70s, if anything, it was a more interesting time in fashion. It was a time when things were changing, especially…

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

I can't become naked for everybody. It's never going to be possible for the person to write the whole story completely, so…

— Rei Kawakubo

I always had good reactions from people with a good eye and a vision... and very terrible reactions from those who are…

— Rei Kawakubo

If you have total freedom to design, you won't get anything interesting. So I give myself restraints in order to kind of…

— Rei Kawakubo

Fashion is something you attach to yourself, put on, and through that interaction the meaning of it is born. Without the wearing…

— Rei Kawakubo

I started with wanting to think about witches, about strong women who have special powers - who are often misunderstood. Then I…

— Rei Kawakubo

I'm always looking to make something that didn't exist before, fumbling about in the dark, not just while making a collection. The…

— Rei Kawakubo

The freedom I give myself for the business is in deciding to take part in the Paris collections, but also having other…

— Rei Kawakubo

If you have total freedom to design, you won't get anything interesting. So I give myself restraints in order to kind of…

— Rei Kawakubo

If I do something I think is new, it will be misunderstood, but if people like it, I will be disappointed because…

— Rei Kawakubo

The theme of the collection this time is MONSTER. It's not about the typical Monster you find in sci-fi and video games.…

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

I'd rather [the collection] have no title. Journalists like titles. That's why I give them to you.

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

Comme des Garcons is a gift to oneself, not something to appeal or to attract the opposite sex

— Rei Kawakubo

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

— Rei Kawakubo

For something to be beautiful it doesn’t have to be pretty.

— Rei Kawakubo