Salome Mesples

To prepare for the future, we look to the past. As a new reality sets in at KENZO, Artistic Director Nigo reconnects with the values entrenched in the early beginnings of the Maison: designer fashion created for real life, imbued with the playful urbanity of Kenzo Takada’s timeless legacy. A creative exchange, KENZO becomes an evolving dialogue between the pop culture of the founder’s heritage and the street culture inherent to Nigo. Through Nigo’s instinct for contemporary design, a new vision takes shape at KENZO: ‘real-to-wear’, a genuine wardrobe founded in the authentic desires of the post-digital mentality. It is a realistic approach to fashion, which transcends the conventional labels of ‘formal’, ‘casual’ or ‘street’ in favour of the syntheses that make up real wardrobes today. A series of encounters take place: the everlasting codes of KENZO are considered through an instant lens, the ‘Jungle’ fashion of its founder is distilled into succinctly covetable items, and a new sense of exclusivity heightens the universal appeal key to the Maison’s history. In the encounter between the founder and the heir, the core of KENZO is amplified: unconventional fashion for the future rooted in the permanence of its past.