The collection theme is from the English vocabulary book at the time of the examination.
Do you look back on your precious books from time to time?
When I say look back, I don't mean books, but I used to collect favorite phrases and words in a notebook. I look back at those notebooks.
When you read a book, do you pay more attention to phrase units and details than to the story?
Yes, I pay attention to details. Before I started making clothes, when I read Dazai, I read it as a way of life of an author, but since I started making clothes, I have become interested in the detailed expressions and descriptions related to the clothes. From there, I can understand how a person views clothes.
In the beginning of "Leaves," one of my favorite works by Dazai, a person who was about to die decides to live until summer after receiving a linen kimono.
I heard that you decide on the words before the collection. Is there some kind of inevitability that it has to be a word?
Fashion is something that is conveyed through feeling and sense, but if you verbalize the logic and story, it is easier to share it with the team. I try not to create clothes by feel, and I try not to do anything that I cannot verbalize (even as a clothing designer). There are times when I try to translate words that have never been used before into clothing, such as clothes that change color, clothes that leave shadows, or clothes that don't fit the body. I always want to do something that can be said in simple words, and that people cannot imagine the clothes when they hear the words.
This is an English vocabulary book that I used for my high school exams, and this is where I take the theme of my collection from. I like to associate words of six letters or less, such as color, reflect, clear, etc., with fashion and think, for example, what kind of clothes would "silence" look like.
Do you see such words "glowing" in the dictionary?
It takes time to find the words of a theme. However, once you find it, it is quick. For example, if there is a word "uniform," and there is an action that unites the words "uni" and "form," and "unite" and "form," how can we create something that is a uniform, but not uniform-like? Thinking about the opposite of language, I wonder what kind of things are uniforms but not uniform-like, and how to make them. If the theme of the next collection is "uniform," how to break down the meaning of the word is a good start.
Did you learn to simplify your phrases from your reading experience?
Hmmm...it's hard to keep it simple, but I have first-hand experience that it's easier to get the message across if it's stripped down and stripped away.
The COMME des GARCONS issue of the American collector's magazine VISIONAIRE was published in 1997 in a limited edition of 2,800 copies. This commemorative volume came with full-size dress patterns and featured the first guest editor in its 20th issue. There are two types of boxes, blue and red, and the blue one was recently acquired. Ms. Morinaga, an avid fan of Ms. Kawakubo, of course owns both colors.
I think this way of making clothes is unique. How did you make it a certainty?
It has been more than 10 years since the brand was launched, and it has taken a long time. Experimental things are difficult to do just once, and with collections having to be released every six months, this kind of approach is inefficient, and it is natural for many people to avoid doing risky things. However, I am the type of person who wants to persistently do what everyone else is not doing, and I believe that somewhere along the way we will make a breakthrough. Not only me, but everyone in this brand.
This series of garments is designed to reveal colors and patterns by shining light on white clothing. This globally rare technique caught the eye of FENDI, and the first collaboration was realized for the 2020 Fall-Winter collection.
For example, even if we could develop a fabric that changes pigment, people often ask, "How would you sell that? But if we don't continue, such technology will disappear. We have proven that there are possibilities, such as Fendi's offer to use our fabric in their collection, if we persevere in our efforts. I think that making weapons and tools that other people don't use is one of the characteristics of "Anrealage.
