Rei Kawakubo Quotes

I've never really tried to copy anyone; I like to have my own style.

I really don't think of my work in terms of a genre. I think of it in terms of what I want to say, what I think is cool, and what I'm good at.

Making art is different for everyone.

I like to create something that's unique and kind of true to myself and authentic and everything. I don't really like to mirror myself after different artists.

I have never followed fashion. What is fashion to me? I just think of things that inspire me, that inspire women, and I design that way.

Sometimes I see it and then paint it. Other times I paint it and then see it. Both are impure situations, and I prefer neither.

I think of many people and no one as a muse. I love the way Sofia looks always, and I love the way Kim looks always. Fashion may be part of their world, but it's not their whole life. It's not everything.

I have a desire to create more film, more beauty, more art, more love, but I don't feel desperate. It's not about creating or building a career.

If you're always thinking about someone else's work, about the tradition you're working in, how can you possibly make anything good?

The fact that I have been successful merely means that I can write and illustrate in my own way.

I'm not going to be able to play it like somebody else.

Art is all a matter of personality.

To me, what makes an artist is a unique personality that they're not afraid to let show.

When I design a garment or a piece of accessory, the first question I ask myself is, 'Would I wear it?'

Everything that I design I would wear myself.

Music is so subjective and personal, I don't expect people to like everything I do. But that's life and you have to live unapologetically.

You should be able to do you. That's what differentiates an artist from a singer.

Style is objective, akin to art, so it varies.

Rather than deliberately trying to draw something, use something you yourself like and want to draw, and I think the characters that come out of that will really have their own individuality.

I just try to write literally what I love. That's usually the barometer that I use. As trite as it sounds, I'm like, 'what would I want to see? What would I be excited about?'

The way I work is not the way that you work, and the whole point of any creative act is that. What I have to offer is me, what you have to offer is you, and if you offer yourself with authenticity and generosity I will be moved.

I only do what I do. For me, it is a craft. It's got to be my own thing - otherwise, I would never be successful. I could easily go to the archives and pull 1987 or 1991 collection by Calvin Klein. But when you look in there, you realize that it was never about one piece. It was about the collections as bodies of work.

Imitation always stinks. When I take photos, I don't go back. I don't look at the past. I'm always original.

One must not imitate what one wants to create.

The best reason to paint is that there is no reason to paint... I'd like to pretend that I've never seen anything, never read anything, never heard anything... and then make something... Every time I make something I think about the people who are going to see it and every time I see something, I think about the person who made it... Nothing is important... so everything is important.