Art attack

Comme des Garcons is fuelled by creativity. It’s in every part of what we do – not just the clothes and fragrances, but the marketing, the graphics and the retail. For 44 years our DNA has always been to make things that didn’t exist before.

The curse of creativity

That level of creativity is both the strength and the weakness of our company – it is what makes us unique, but it is also what doesn’t make us rich! We don’t do market research or follow trends, instead we design what we want and hope that people like it. We don’t cater for, or compromise with, the market, nor do we ask the market what it needs – you either like us or you don’t. We allow people to make their own decisions and, yet, we keep growing. It is definitely a strength, but there are certainly two sides to it.

Pure oud

Oud is an omnipresent scent in this region. I love the original, natural oud that you can buy as incense, but most oud fragrances tend to have been bastardised and chemicalised, instead of something that is pure, natural and not heady. Many people think that woody fragrances are purely masculine scents, so it is our job to show them that they can be unisex.

Regional nose

People in the Middle East are very knowledgable when it comes to fragrances. They are creative and don’t care about following trends, but I must admit, I’m not a big fan of people making their own fragrances. Let’s put it this way: everyone can cook, but not everyone should cook. That’s the problem with the Internet, just because you have a blog, it doesn’t make you an expert.

Poor luxury

The idea of luxury has changed over the past decade as I think the term ‘luxury’ has lost its true meaning. Luxury should be a rarity and not something to be found everywhere. It takes time to develop and create luxury. It is something that is unique and therefore it can’t be a luxury if it is everywhere. For me there are two types: ‘rich luxury’ is something that is covered in gold and it is ‘luxury’ because it is made of fancy materials, and ‘poor luxury’ which is a luxury that comes from within yourself.

Wise words

It’s important to stay patient. Young people today want to have instant fame and a red-carpet life – but all that takes hard work and patience. Things tend to go by very quickly and it’s easy to get caught up in having instant success or recognition, but the real success comes down to hard work and being patient.

The modern man

Today’s man should have both wisdom and kindness. I think there is a bit too much ego at the moment, everyone seems a bit too much into themselves and they forget to be courteous of others. There are far too many ‘selfies’ being taken. Young people call it ‘multi-tasking’ but I know what real multi-tasking is, and it is not checking your Facebook on your phone while having a converstation with someone.

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