rei kawakubo opened a store in china in partnership with i.t. limited - her hong kong based retail partner. the 20,000 square foot store includes polka dot columns & a life size elephant sculpture. along with her own lines the store carries labels maison martin margiela, rick owens, dior homme, ann demeulemeester & hussein chalayan but no young designers. kawakubo says her "motivation has always been to create something new, something that didn't exist before" and said she is interested in only "very few" young designers and thinks that most of them aren't that good. "there are few people who, like us, have the values and the way of thinking to really try hard. they lack discipline. and it's not just fashion. i think ... [young people] get satisfied too easily. they're not strict enough with themselves. they're too soft on themselves." doing press for the store opening a reporter asked about her retirement and was met with complete silence! ah, old school!