Chief Curator Andrew Bolton on Rei Kawakubo s Genius

Has it been exhilarating for you to work with Ray?

It s been amazing.

Yeah, it s been a complete dream come true.

She s such a genius, and she doesn t really talk

very much about her work.

I think it s more what she isn t saying.

That s more revealing.

Oh, really, and how do you translate those silences?

I think she lets you know when she s not happy

with something, so if she s smiling, you know it s okay.

It s okay.

How would you define avant garde?

I think it s clothes that provoke and confront.

Sometimes the clothes that are avant garde

are not necessarily easy to wear, aren t they?

Yeah, they re not always functional.

Sometimes, you have to have a graph, a map,

to put the clothes on, right?

I think Ray used to send diagrams to shops

to try and figure out how things would work.

Okay.

Congratulations.

[Andrew] Thank you.