How Rei Kawakubo Built a Fashion Empire Through a Quiet Culture of Making
Born in Tokyo in 1942, Rei Kawakubo, the oldest of three children and only daughter, grew up in post-war US-occupied Japan. The occupation ended in 1952, but the era was marked by poverty and humiliation for Japan. Kawakubo, part of a close-knit family, had her first encounters with creativity via her mother, who made all of the children's clothes. When Kawakubo grew up, she entered Keio University, where her father worked, and graduated in 1964 with a degree in "the history of aesthetics," which included studies of both Asian and Western art. As Japan grew in the 60s, young Japanese embraced Western counter-culture, and Kawakubo developed an interest in the punk movement. There's an amazing book on the topic by W. David Marx, Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style. At 22, Kawakubo left home without any explanation or real plans. She moved into a shared apartment in Harajuku, a fashionable youth hangout spot. Harajuku continues to thrive as a streetwear hub to this day.
Kawakubo's initial instincts were to be self-sufficient. She found a job at the bottom of the ladder at an advertising agency of a textile manufacturer, Asahi Kasei. Not only did she have no desire to wear the traditional uniform of the company, but she also openly refused to conform to norms. Her boss gave her some freedom in dress and also in scouting props and costumes for photoshoots. After a couple of years on the job, one of her colleagues, who would later become an influential fashion journalist, encouraged Kawakubo to go freelance as a stylist in 1969 (1). Dissatisfied with the clothes that she was given for photoshoots, she started making her own clothing. This was without any training in fashion or a formal design education. Her unique vision came from seeing things as a stylistic whole and thinking about what would make an interesting image. Instead of focusing on a single article of clothing, she focused on the whole outfit. The clothes that she made for photoshoots, Kawakubo would later sell to maintain her independence (2). She sold them under the label Comme des Garçons, as she liked the way the French sounded. By 1969, she was using whatever funds she had from her stylist work to create a youthful sportswear line that trendsetting shops would pick up. She rented a space in a graphic arts studio and hired a few assistants. After a decade, by 1980, Comme des Garçons would grow to have a hundred and fifty franchised shops across Japan (3).
Kawakubo describes her early creative success as a result of focusing on her independence. “I tried to achieve my aim which was to do something by myself, Kawakubo explains further, “Oh, of course, I loved to work in the fashion world, but as a first priority, I wanted to work as an independent person. I just happened to find my own job in the fashion field.” Fans of the brand were obsessed. The aesthetic at this time was inspired by the loose and rustic garb of Japanese fisherman and peasants. At the age of 40 in 1981, although well known in Japan Kawakubo was an unknown in the west, she had her first runway show in Paris. The show caused controversy but also put Comme des Garcon on the map, Kawakubo’s response, “I only came to Paris with the intention of showing what I thought was strong and beautiful. It just so happened that my notion was different from everybody else’s.” Her alternative view to that of the fashion establishment also applied to other areas of her business. She would typically work with models that were overlooked by other fashion houses. Again she’d look at a model as a whole person. This included both image and attitude. Kawakubo would find one of the traits she values most in the models. Independence. In Kawakubo’s words, “People interest me. I am inspired by the people surrounding me. Beautiful or stylish is a personal feeling. I don’t have a definition of beauty. I don’t have an establishment view of what beauty is. My idea of beauty keeps changing. When I choose models, I like a strong, independent person, maybe who is disliked by other people. I want to see an all over feeling, not just from an architectural point of view. I want to see wide angle (4).”
Another critical component of her continual creative breakthroughs, in addition to going against the grain, is the strong desire to create something entirely new every season. Kawakubo call’s the process starting from zero. Not building on what’s done previously or relying on hits from last season. She tries to minimize as much outside influence as possible. As she noted, it gets harder and harder to start from zero as you get older. You begin to acquire more and more baggage. Kawakubo agonizes over trying to get something new with every collection. She enjoys the journey no matter how hard it is. “It’s boring if things are accomplished too easily, right? When I work, I think about the excitement of achievement after hard effort and pain (5).” This inward creative focus is also imparted on her staff. Her directive to them is to find the new, but doesn’t want to influence the results by describing in exact detail what her vision his. They look inward instead of to her to uncover the new. This includes everyone from the pattern cutters and designers.
Attention to detail and trying to push the boundary of what’s possible put Comme des Garçon in a class of its own. This attention to detail is part of the brand’s DNA. The clothes aren’t expensive because of the name that’s on it but because of the experimental techniques that are used to make them as Kawakubo explains, “My Clothes perhaps end up expensive, not because the company is making a huge profit, but because we create special fabric, and there are certain techniques involving lots of details. Instead of buying three pieces of clothing in a month or a year, why not buy one thing they can afford and enjoy it. Rather than a lot of clothes, I wish people would value creativity so that the world would not be filled up with rubbish clothes.” Kawakubo also resists the uniformity of machines in the process. She doesn’t want things to be perfect, she wants them to be human. Kawakubo hints at the idea of special wrongness. The unique quirks that make something special. Kawakubo explains, “The machines that make fabric are more and more making uniform, flawless textures. I like it when something is off — not perfect. Hand weaving is the best way to achieve this. Since this isn’t always possible, we loosen a screw of the machines here and there so they can’t do exactly what they’re supposed to do (6).”
Kawakubo has built her creative empire through making. Creating is the first priority. She is famously private. Kawakubo rarely gives interviews and is not active in the fashion entertainment press. Her clothes and her work do all the talking. Kawakubo stresses the importance of silence, “Silence is very important to me. I find being alone rather relaxing. I must be a very obstinate woman (7).” It’s clear to me that she is tapping into her introverted superpowers. Looking inside for inspiration, not getting influences from elsewhere. She takes this same approach with the Comme des Garçon brand actively cultivating talent internally. She asks her designers if they want their own line. It takes a ton of confidence in your own creativity to do that. But I also think it’s how she keeps the team motivated to discover the new. The team doesn’t toil in obscurity for the sake of her name and the Comme des Garcon brand. This is a very unselfish move. She put herself in the shoes of her designers. It probably attracts top talent for the brand. Examples of her team who have created their own lines include the founder of Sacai, Chitose Abe and Kawakubo’s protege Junya Watanabe who not only has is own line but has notable collaborations with Converse, Puma, Carhartt, and North Face (8).
Other designers that have struck out on their own with Kawakubo’s backing who ultimately weren’t cut out for the task could come back into the Comme des Garçon fold and work for Kawakubo. Experimentation without consequence. She instinctively knows that allowing her designers to build their own brands and labels ultimately make Commes des Garcon brand stronger. It makes Commes des Garçon a magnet for design talent. Knowing there are opportunities to maximize their own creative potential with the support of Kawakubo. This philosophy also extends to the new retail experiences she’s built with her partner Adrian Joffre in Dover Street Market.
Dover Street Market retail concept was started in 2004 on a side street in London’s Mayfair district. Rent for the space came as a whole, and it was a ton of space. The couple didn’t want to share the area on someone’s else terms so they would lease out the whole space to do things their way. Inspired by the stalls of Kensington Market they wanted to bring together different designers in a sort of marketplace. A fundamental tenet was putting established designers alongside emerging designers creating a unique offering over traditional retailers. It took people some getting used to, they didn’t initially understand it and would describe it as being “mixed up.” Kawakubo and Joffe’s response was, “deal with it. It’s not like the department store; this is different.” There is a mix of pop-ups, special collaborations, and art installations. The precursor to Dover Street Markets would be temporary as what they referred to as guerrilla stores in various cities around the globe, which included Reykjavik, Warsaw, Barcelona, Stockholm, Athens, and Beirut. Permanent Dover Street Markets can be found in London, New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Singapore, and Beijing. The shops close up and change format regularly to bring in a new mix of art and collaborations. They cost a fraction of what their luxury counterparts invest in their spaces although they carry capsule collections or unique collaborations from the same luxury brands in their shop. Content matters, more importantly, diversity of content with a unique point of view. Walking through a Dover Street Market is definitely a unique experience, not something that could be easily replicated online.
All growth to date is organic and in the service of creativity. Comme des Garçon is more like an ecosystem versus a hierarchical brand. Brand extensions and products lines expand freely off of Comme des Garcon’s core brand. It’s a very flat structure. According to Joffe, “We keep things on a parallel level, we can’t grow deeply, we’re not big enough or rich enough to open flagship stores around the world like multi-national corporations, so we have to grow the company laterally. That’s why we’ve got 17 brands. We’ve just got to continue, organically and naturally. Slowly, slowly, little growth. We don’t want to double overnight. We’ve never had investors or anything like that.“ What they are doing is working. Dover Street Market now makes $130 million/year across five stores which is a 130 percent increase over last year (9).
At the age of 75 Rei Kawakubo continues to be a force in the fashion world. Comme des Garçon generates $220 million in revenues and employs over 800 people (10). Creativity remains to be the critical priority not only for Kawakubo but for the brands and designers she touches. And constant change fuels growth.
References
Thurman, Judith. “The Unsettling Vision of Rei Kawakubo.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 10 July 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/07/04/the-misfit-3.
2. Kawakubo, Rei, and Terry Jones. Rei Kawakubo: Designer Monographs. Taschen, 2012.
Thurman, Judith. “The Unsettling Vision of Rei Kawakubo.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 10 July 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/07/04/the-misfit-3.
4. Kawakubo, Rei, and Terry Jones. Rei Kawakubo: Designer Monographs. Taschen, 2012.
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Rabkin, Eugene. “The Children of Comme.” The Business of Fashion, The Business of Fashion, 6 May 2015, www.businessoffashion.com/articles/people/the-children-of-comme.
Marshall, Alexandra. “Dover Street Market Expands While Defying Retail Convention.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 14 Aug. 2018, www.wsj.com/articles/dover-street-market-expands-while-defying-retail-convention-1534253394.
Kansara, Vikram Alexei. “Adrian Joffe, Tending the Garden of Comme Des Garçons.” The Business of Fashion, The Business of Fashion, 28 Sept. 2013, www.businessoffashion.com/articles/people/adrian-joffe-rei-kawakubo-tending-the-garden-of-comme-des-garcons.
