ISSEY MIYAKE

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.

I have worked with several dance companies.

Well, what I'm doing is really clothing. I'm not doing sculpture.

You see it in the many bouncing clothes that are not just pleats. To make them, two or three people twist them - twist, twist, twist the pleats, sometimes three or four persons twist together and put it all in the machine to cook it.

By the way, Marilyn Monroe was a size 14.

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 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.

I've never been involved in any kind of political movement.

A great thing happening now in art is that artists are using the figure, the body, clothing, life.

Even when I work with computers, with high technology, I always try to put in the touch of the hand.

Design is not for philosophy it's for life.

We can also cut by heat - heat punch. And we also can cut by cold - extreme cold. When you cut with heat, it makes a mark. With cold, no mark. It depends on the fabric.

Most of us feel some kind of uncertainty, with the population increasing and resources decreasing. We have to face these issues.

I was always interested in making clothing that is worn by people in the real world.

I sent 200, 300 of the clothes that I had made, and the dancers chose what they liked.

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.

I did not want to be labelled 'the designer who survived the atomic bomb,' and therefore I have always avoided questions about Hiroshima.

The purpose - where I start - is the idea of use. It is not recycling, it's reuse.

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.

To be honest, I think we should find first the possibility to make it. Research is first - if you're not interested, you never can find something. Many things happen from forgotten machines - ones that are no longer used.

I believe that all forms of creativity are related.

When I close my eyes, I still see things no one should ever experience: a bright red light, the black cloud soon after, people running in every direction trying desperately to escape - I remember it all.

The future of fashion is light, durable clothes.

Function alone does not make clothing appealing.