“One instant of satisfaction and I worry that I won’t be able to come up with the next creation. I always have to have that hunger. As long as I continue to do what I’m doing, I feel that I have to keep pushing on.” Rei Kawakubo
This Christmas, i-D teamed with Taschen, the leading publisher of art, architecture and design, to present i-D Designer Monographs, a series of large scale books celebrating the life and careers of our favourite fashion designers. First up in the series are Vivienne Westwood, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto. Here we offer a first look insi-De and outsi-De the Rei Kawakubo monograph.
Rei Kawakubo is the enigmatic head of Japanese fashion house Comme des Garçons. Forever defying conventional thinking, Kawakubo’s vision extends beyond clothing to furniture, architecture and graphic design. i-D examines Rei’s complex and conceptual world, digging through the magazine’s archives to discover how Kawakubo continues to push boundaries and marry fashion with art in the most unexpected of ways. Featuring stunning imagery from photographers including Paolo Roversi, David Bailey and Emma Summerton together with interviews by Jamie Huckbody, Josh Sims and Terry Jones, Rei Kawakubo continues to challenge the Western ideals of body shape and garment construction.
Read Terry Jones in conversation with Alison Castle about the Designer Monograph series, and click here to buy.
Image (top): Photography Terry Jones, Comme des Garçons showroom, autumn/winter 12.
Front cover: Photography Richard Burbridge, styling Edward Enninful, i-D, The Passionate Issue, June 2004
Back cover: Rei Kawakubo, photography Leonard Koren
