Week 8 Post 1 - Creativity Within Oneself
Henry Romain
- These are quotations taken from interviews with Rei Kawakubo, founder and designer of the brand Comme Des Garçons. In spirit of what Rei values, I will not try to add my own explanations of what she is saying in this blog post. She is notorious for not explaining herself and I wish to present her words with no unnecessary commentary.
- ""What does Comme des Garçons tell us about you? Joffe translates, she replies, then talks over him in Japanese. She asked if you can clarify the question, he says, but as I fumble for new words, she starts talking again. “She says this is not relevant... She says the way you live and the way you get energy is different from what you have to do to make a collection; there is no connection between the way she lives and the way she makes clothes”"(S1).
- "Going around museums and galleries, seeing films, talking to people, seeing new shops, looking at silly magazines, taking an interest in the activities of people in the street, looking at art, traveling: all these things are not useful, all these things do not help me, do not give me any direct stimulation to help my search for something new. And neither does fashion history. The reason for that is that all these things above already exist. I only can wait for the chance for something completely new to be born within myself"(S2).
- "The way I go about looking for this from within is to start with a provisional ‘theme’. I make an abstract image in my head. I think paradoxically (oppositely) about patterns I have used before. I put parts of patterns where they don’t usually go. I break the idea of ‘clothes’. I think about using for everything what one would normally use for one thing. Give myself limitations. I pursue a situation where I am not free. I think about a world of only the tiniest narrowest possibilities. I close myself. I think that everything about the way of making clothes hitherto is no good. This is the rule I always give myself: that nothing new can come from a situation that involves being free or that doesn’t involve suffering"(S2).
- "It just started somewhere? It just started. It was only because she wanted to work and be independent and make a living. To be free. Yes, to be free. There was a little lack of experience of growing up. You know the story right? She was a stylist at a magazine; she couldn’t find anything that she liked to photograph, so instead she decided to make it herself which is when she created her own company. There was no epiphany. She wishes she had one for you, but she doesn’t"(S2).
Sources
1. "A rare interview with Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo" https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/sep/15/a-rare-interview-with-comme-des-garcons-designer-rei-kawakubo
2."‘The rules are in my head.’ Rei Kawakubo’s quiet revolution just got louder" http://system-magazine.com/issue2/rei-kawakubo/
- These are quotations taken from interviews with Rei Kawakubo, founder and designer of the brand Comme Des Garçons. In spirit of what Rei values, I will not try to add my own explanations of what she is saying in this blog post. She is notorious for not explaining herself and I wish to present her words with no unnecessary commentary.
- ""What does Comme des Garçons tell us about you? Joffe translates, she replies, then talks over him in Japanese. She asked if you can clarify the question, he says, but as I fumble for new words, she starts talking again. “She says this is not relevant... She says the way you live and the way you get energy is different from what you have to do to make a collection; there is no connection between the way she lives and the way she makes clothes”"(S1).
- "Going around museums and galleries, seeing films, talking to people, seeing new shops, looking at silly magazines, taking an interest in the activities of people in the street, looking at art, traveling: all these things are not useful, all these things do not help me, do not give me any direct stimulation to help my search for something new. And neither does fashion history. The reason for that is that all these things above already exist. I only can wait for the chance for something completely new to be born within myself"(S2).
- "The way I go about looking for this from within is to start with a provisional ‘theme’. I make an abstract image in my head. I think paradoxically (oppositely) about patterns I have used before. I put parts of patterns where they don’t usually go. I break the idea of ‘clothes’. I think about using for everything what one would normally use for one thing. Give myself limitations. I pursue a situation where I am not free. I think about a world of only the tiniest narrowest possibilities. I close myself. I think that everything about the way of making clothes hitherto is no good. This is the rule I always give myself: that nothing new can come from a situation that involves being free or that doesn’t involve suffering"(S2).
- "It just started somewhere? It just started. It was only because she wanted to work and be independent and make a living. To be free. Yes, to be free. There was a little lack of experience of growing up. You know the story right? She was a stylist at a magazine; she couldn’t find anything that she liked to photograph, so instead she decided to make it herself which is when she created her own company. There was no epiphany. She wishes she had one for you, but she doesn’t"(S2).
Sources
1. "A rare interview with Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo" https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/sep/15/a-rare-interview-with-comme-des-garcons-designer-rei-kawakubo
2."‘The rules are in my head.’ Rei Kawakubo’s quiet revolution just got louder" http://system-magazine.com/issue2/rei-kawakubo/
Interesting information. I think it fits with the idea of the creative process.
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