川久保玲談及 COMME des GARÇONS 的歷史和商業發展

「這一季衣服不是讓少年當街頭服穿著，而是對刻下男裝簡單、運動風與隨便的批判。強調縫紉的這季衣服，就是要質問男裝還有 Tailoring 可言嗎？」

「做生意最重要是資金流動，我無時無刻強調資金獨立，永不負債。」

「時裝不為他人而穿，不為吸引或勾搭別人，它應該是你送給自己的禮物。」

「雖然我不信名氣，但事實上這東西給我無人拒絕合作的能力。」

「我想把高級時裝放在市集般的店賣，Dover Street Market 把各類風格時裝放在開放式空間賣，催逼創意氣氛。」

「初當形象指導時的目的是賺錢過活，獨立，並發展成一門事業。但那時我找不到任何想穿的衣服呀。於是便動手設計。」

「我把首間店舖櫥窗空置了，有別於其他店將當季衣服穿在假模特身上，確保路人一定看得見。我把所有衣服收在櫥窗後，店內不設鏡子，衣服是為身體設計，不是肉眼。」

「別人勸我的我偏要做。」

「我的作品由內而發，性別或炫耀等事毫無意義。」

對於首個 Fashion Show 並評為廣島原爆時尚，她說：

「雖然我從未捱餓，但永記當年極窮與絕望的心情，但這與我的作品毫無關係。評論完全捉錯用神。生於日本是個意外，與我的設計全無關聯，戰後成長令我變成今日的我，成為時裝設計師卻是另一回事，這是相當個人的事，完全發自內心。」

2D Fashion Show 的設計靈感

「好似所有人都耗盡了，大家都被廉價 Fast Fashion 洗禮，毫不介意與別人穿得一式一樣 。熱情與渴望改革的宗旨都變淡了。」

15 FW 的設計靈感

「與戰爭政治無關，一切源自內心深處的恐懼，每個人都有的恐懼。好似至親離開，接著舉行分別儀式，好抒發傷感，令一切易過點。沒有悲哀，就沒有創意。」

有著「日本時尚教母」之稱的川久保玲（Rei Kawakubo），自 1969 年成爲一名時裝設計師，並于 1973 年成立舉世聞名的 COMME des GARÇONS 之後，不僅將自己獨到又極富感念性的審美理念傳遞到全世界，也向世界展示了一種革命性的新型穿衣方式。之後她的設計得到越來越多人的賞識，包括 Karl Lagerfeld, Nicolas Ghesquière 和 Marc Jacobs 在內都是她的忠實粉絲。

除了主線品牌 COMME des GARÇONS 的蓬勃發展之外，川久保玲開始針對不同消費群體拓展豐富的支線品牌，包括專營男裝的 COMME des GARÇONS HOMME；主打襯衫設計的 COMME des GARÇONS SHIRT；以及憑借一顆「愛心」紅遍全球的 COMME des GARÇONS PLAY 等等，並培養出渡邊淳彌（Junya Watanabe）和丸龍文人（Fumito Ganryu）等得意門生，是幫助日本時尚走向國際舞台的主要推手之一。

當然，已經成爲倫敦時尚地標的 Dover Street Market 零售店鋪，也是川久保玲這十年來傾注最多心血的項目之一。除去自家品牌的全部系列之外，DSM 更吸納了來自全球的精選品牌，不僅創造了一種主打藝術格調的高端購物體驗，成爲一種時尚文化和生活方式的象征，也在界線越來越模糊的時尚與街頭之間架起一座橋梁。商業上的成功，讓川久保玲將 DSM 的理念相繼推廣至東京和紐約，進一步確立了自己在時尚領域不可動搖的地位。

一向很少在媒體上露面的川久保玲最近在 2015 紐約時裝周期間，接受了《The Guardian》的采訪，分享 COMME des GARÇONS 的歷史和商業發展，以及自己對于零售、女性主義、時尚發展，甚至是金融方面的觀點，足以幫助大家了解一個更爲真實的自己。下面便帶來這篇專訪的節選內容，感興趣的朋友不妨點擊這裏閱讀原文。

Rei Kawakubo’s designs have always been personal, driven by a sense of independence. Her father was a university administrator and her mother a teacher. After studying history of aesthetics at Keio University in the 60s, she left home and found work in the advertising department of textile manufacturer Ashai Kasei. The job included looking for props and costumes and eventually she started designing those she couldn’t find. She finally went freelance as a stylist and designer in 1967. “The very first thing I wanted to do when I started this was to make a living, be independent and have a job. But I could never find clothes that I wanted to wear, so I decided to make them myself.’

Without any formal fashion training, she launched Comme des Garçons in 1969, with the first boutique opening in Tokyo’s Minami-Aoyama district in 1973. From the beginning she had unorthodox ways of working. “I attempted a different approach to the typical clothing storefront, which was usually adorned with mannequins dressed in the latest collections for everyone to see, clothes on view for the masses to lust over. The front display windows of the first boutique in Aoyama were often kept vacant while the clothes remained in the back room of the shop. I would make the clothes, bring them to the boutique and interact with clients daily. There were no mirrors in the boutique to emphasise the notion that one should buy clothes because of how they make you feel, not how they make you look.”

Kawakubo has said that she just likes the sound of the words that make her company’s name, but the spirit of “like boys” chimed with women’s liberation in the 60s and 70s, and her designs have always challenged traditional ideas of femininity. “I’ve always been against people who told me what to do,” she says. She identified with the punk movement in London in the late 70s and visited the city twice in the early 80s. When she first showed in Paris in 1981, fashion was dominated by the high glamour of Gianni Versace and Thierry Mugler. Dynasty and Falcon Crest debuted on American TV that year and Human League was the bestselling band in the UK. This was the world into which Kawakubo sent that first collection of black, shapeless garments with asymmetric hems, odd flaps, laddered knits and shredded fabric. It was a signature style that had earned her fans at home the nickname Karasu – “the crows” – by the Japanese press. “I built my work from within instead of satisfying a demand for sexualised and ostentatious clothing,” she says.

But the collection was dismissed by critics as “ragged chic”. It was also attacked on a political level, labelled “Hiroshima chic” or “post atomic”. Kawakubo says her work was misunderstood. “Although I never went hungry I remember well the extreme poverty and devastation of those times. But this had no bearing on my work whatsoever. These critics had it all wrong. Being born in Japan was an accident. There is no direct correlation to my work. Growing up in postwar Japan has made me the person I am, but it is not why I do the work I do. It is a very personal thing – everything comes from inside.”