A new chapter began for fashion house Kenzo on Sunday: Japanese designer Nigo, particularly well-known in the streetwear world, presented his first collection for the brand on the last day of Paris Men’s Fashion Week.
Overalls and poppy prints
Nigo’s debut at Kenzo is mixed, colorful and very wearable. Floral denim suits, pilot jackets, bomber jackets, casual checked suits, jumpsuits, patchwork dresses with floral patterns: the diverse collection with non-binary silhouettes combined American, British and Japanese influences and used the very Parisian beret as an accessory.
The designs were presented at the Vivienne gallery, a place that is iconic for Kenzo. In 1970, the year Nigo was born, the brand’s founder, Kenzo Takada, presented his debut runway show in this covered passage, built in 1823 with a contemporary mosaic floor, which also housed his boutique Jungle Jap.
“Nigo and Kenzo Takada share the common cultural language of the fusion of Japanese and Western clothing traditions and, above all, the same attitude towards fashion: everything you see on the catwalk, you have to be able to wear in real life,” emphasized the house in the Announcement about the fashion show.
Nigo, whose real name is Tomoaki Nagao, has become known in the streetwear scene through his label A Bathing Ape. He founded his own fashion brand in Tokyo in 1993 and has since forged numerous collaborations with big names in the fashion industry, including a 2020 capsule collection with Virgil Abloh, then creative director of men’s collections at Louis Vuitton, LVMH’s flagship brand.
In a recent interview with US fashion magazine Women’s Wear Daily, Nigo revealed that he was a great admirer of Kenzo, but initially had no money to buy his designs. After finding success in the fashion industry, he acquired hundreds of pieces from vintage shops which have now provided inspiration for this collection. Kenzo’s famous poppy print can be found on several pieces. “I was so impressed with the knowledge he had about Kenzo Takada. He has an archive that even we don’t have,” Sidney Toledano, managing director of LVMH Fashion Group, who chose Nigo to head the house, told WWD.
Kenzo is a fashion house belonging to the luxury group LVMH The brand was founded by Japanese Kenzo Takada, who died of Covid in October 2020. Last spring, the label terminated the contract with the Portuguese designer Felipe Oliveira Baptista, who designed a poetic and nomadic wardrobe that did not have great commercial success. (AFP)
This translated post previously appeared on FashionUnited.fr.