I always take photos from my left side because my jaw line is stronger.

I'm having fun. I'm being myself. I'm doing what I love. That's all that matters.

Polyester is easy to work with and results in clothing that is well suited to the needs of a modern lifestyle.

I always wanted to create clothing that was universal - easy to wear, to care for, and that was also beautiful. As such, I became interested in polyester, and its potential, from the beginning of my career.

Clothes should fit comfortably - not too tightly - so that you have space to move in and think freely.

Clothes have become more personal, more a matter of very individual taste.

If Mr. Obama could walk across the Peace Bridge in Hiroshima - whose balustrades were designed by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi as a reminder both of his ties to East and West and of what humans do to one another out of hatred - it would be both a real and a symbolic step toward creating a world that knows no fear of nuclear threat.

Think of things that can be created, not destroyed, and that bring beauty and joy.

I like women who have their own idea of life: the woman who is assured, comfortable with herself, strong inside, proud of herself - not in an arrogant way, not showing off.

I try to be free. The women also must be free.

Function alone does not make clothing appealing.

Clothing is the closest thing to all humans.

I am most interested in people and the human form.

The important thing is to make something. In reality, it's not important that a designer be known by name - you can remain anonymous. Even the status of a designer will undergo changes, I believe.

In Paris, we call the people who make clothing 'couturiers' - they develop new clothing items - but actually, the work of designing is to make something that works in real life.

I am very interested in the culture of paper.

I never thought fashion was the job for me, because I'm Japanese. Clothes! That was a European, society thing.

I gravitated towards the field of clothing design, partly because it is a creative format that is modern and optimistic.

Many people repeat the past. I'm not interested. I prefer evolution.

I tried never to be defined by my past.

Men have been buying my women's coats for years.

When I first began working in Japan, I had to confront the Japanese people's excessive worship for foreign goods and the fixed idea of what clothes ought to be. I wanted to change the rigid formula of clothing that the Japanese followed.

I am neither a writer nor a theorist. For a person who creates things to utter too many words means to regulate himself - a frightening prospect.

In the Eighties, Japanese fashion designers brought a new type of creativity; they brought something Europe didn't have. There was a bit of a shock effect, but it probably helped the Europeans wake up to a new value.