Well, what I’m doing is really clothing. I’m not doing sculpture.
By the way, Marilyn Monroe was a size 14.
Beauty is like a sunset: it goes as soon as you try to capture it. The beauty you like is precisely that which escapes you.
The purpose – where I start – is the idea of use. It is not recycling, it’s reuse.
From the beginning I thought about working with the body in movement, the space between the body and clothes. I wanted the clothes to move when people moved. The clothes are also for people to dance or laugh.
A great thing happening now in art is that artists are using the figure, the body, clothing, life.
Work for money, design for love.
Even when I work with computers, with high technology, I always try to put in the touch of the hand.
I was always interested in making clothing that is worn by people in the real world.
Many people will say, well, clothes should be worn; but I think people can look at them in public, like seeing a film. I think museum exhibitions are very important.
Design is not for philosophy, it’s for life.
The best fragrance is the scent of water, the fragrance of dew and rain falling on plants. Water is the essential element, a source of life and energy. A perfume that, like a garment, moves to suit the woman, her skin. A perfume that embraces a woman.
I did not want to be labelled the designer who survived the atomic bomb, and therefore I have always avoided questions about Hiroshima.
I started to work with cotton fabrics. I used cotton because it’s easy to work with, to wash, to take care of, to wear if it’s warm or cold. It’s great. That was the start.
One of my assistants found this old German machine. It was originally used to make underwear. Like Chanel, who started with underwear fabric – jerseys – we used the machine that made underwear to make something else.
Of course there are many ways we can reuse something. We can dye it. We can cut it. We can change the buttons. Those are other ways to make it alive. But this is a new step to use anything – hats, socks, shirts. It’s the first step in the process.
I very much like dance and dancers.
I have worked with several dance companies.