7. Spring2012
http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2012-ready-to-wear/kenzo/slideshow/collection
Surprise was the common reaction to the news this past July that Opening Ceremony's Humberto Leon and Carol Lim were being appointed creative directors of Kenzo. Of all the various hirings and firings, it was one nobody could have predicted. Certainly Leon and Lim were known to be many things: game-changing retailers, merchandisers par excellence, curators of cool, creative collaborators extraordinaire, and designers of their own rapidly growing private label, which now sells to numerous stores. Heading up a Parisian house owned by LVMH, however, is a different task.
But judging by their debut at today's infectiously energetic presentation, Leon and Lim may well be up to it. The pair staged a series of mini shows at the house's Rue Vivienne headquarters, around the corner from Kenzo's first Jungle Jap store. The event had the feel of a fashion happening. Leon and Lim's friends lent their talents for the occasion. Jason Schwartzman did the music, Spike Jonze acted as documentarian, and Chloë Sevigny closed the show in a royal blue taffeta jumpsuit and her Mona Lisa smile.
As for the rest, the overall assemblage was of rich primary color, texture, and blocked prints, not to mention loads of product in bright tubing: bracelets, mesh totes, fringed bucket bags, and visors. It felt just right, as did the youthful but not young sensibility. What struck you most was the sophisticated level of design, particularly since the label is being retooled to sell at the same sweet-spot price point as Alexander Wang. You can see it in everything from the flared-up back of an anorak to the wave-textured knits. And consider that every brightly hued taffeta piece in the last group is reversible.
Leon and Lim took a page from Kenzo Takada's book of merging his own culture with French fashion. "There's definitely a sense of America we want to bring to the brand," said Leon, citing as reference both the casual kit they favor for weekends in upstate New York and the schlocky-sweet seaside towns they visited while growing up. Like Takada, Leon and Lim's aim is to create their own vernacular, not an archival redux. Reactions at the presentation and afterward leaned toward raves. Meanwhile, Pierre-Yves Roussel, the LVMH executive who went through 30 candidates during the appointment process, smiled broadly. His takeaway: "It was exactly what we wanted."
8. Resort2013
http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/resort-2013/kenzo/slideshow/collection
Humberto Leon and Carol Lim have made the jungle—and Kenzo's Jungle Jap—the launch pad for their reboot of the brand. "We decided to take it back to the beginnings of Kenzo," Leon explained at his Paris studio. He and Lim had recently come back from a trip through the real-life jungles for inspiration. The ones they visited were East Asian, and what they saw there both literally and figuratively infused their Resort offering. The leopard print they used is derived from the markings of a specific beast: the clouded leopard, native only to East Asia. Their knit stitch was inspired by basket weaving seen in situ.
Shapes, too, were inspired by their travels. A cotton/raffia parka, which zips off into an abbreviated version, looked ready for the wild. So did cotton stopper-pull shorts. Stoppers appeared on many different pieces, from dresses to wide-legged pants, offering plays with volume from the dramatic to the cinched. Those inflated shapes made for a more overtly fashion-conscious range than the duo has offered to date. With risk comes reward, though some pieces may find them out on a limb. Speaking of, their first structured bag, the No. 18 (named for their studio address on Rue Vivienne), debuts here, complete with an iPad case inside. But where to charge such a contraption in the jungle?
9. Fall2005
http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2005-ready-to-wear/kenzo/slideshow/collection
What do you get when you enlist a Sardinia-based multitasker to design a Japanese label owned by a French conglomerate? A multi-culti 72-look extravaganza, complete with a patchwork of rich tapestries for a backdrop and an extra-wide runway lined with lush greenery. For his third outing for LVMH-owned Kenzo, Antonio Marras (who presents his own collection in Milan and is also the creative director of Trend les Copains) sent out a grand tour's worth of embroideries, florals, lamés, tartans, velvets, and crochets.
It was a rich panoply, held together rather loosely with grand volumes, acid-bright colors, and thin hippie-esque headbands stretched across the models' foreheads. Perhaps too rich—some excellent pieces, like tweedy riding jackets, needlepoint-embellished djellaba tunics (paired sillily with plaid pants), and tulip-sleeve turtleneck sweaters, among others, got lost in the fray. But there was no missing Marisa Berenson, who closed the show wearing a floor-length floral dress and a fur-trimmed cape with flats in true nouveau boho fashion.
10.fall2013
http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2013-ready-to-wear/kenzo/slideshow/collection
No detail is too big or too small for Kenzo creative directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon. Today's amazing venue, the historic Paris department store La Samaritaine, was positively enormous. Recently purchased by LVMH, La Samaritaine is about to undergo a two-year renovation and will become a luxury mall and hotel. "This is the first and last show here ever," a PR rep confirmed. It definitely had the feeling of a fashion happening, but the space was a bit too unwieldy in the end; the models had so much ground to cover, they didn't get close enough to the crowd. As for the little things, there was Starbucks coffee in plastic to-go mugs and Kenzo down wraps on every seat. You'll be seeing plenty of those on the street-style blogs in the coming days.
Ten years running Opening Ceremony has attuned Leon and Lim to what fashion-mad young people want. Recently, that's been color, print, and, from Kenzo at least, logos. Their peppy new collection delivered on the first two of the three. "It all started with these grosgrain ribbons from the seventies, which are probably Kenzo's most collectible dresses," Leon said. That special find got them thinking about Indian temples and, he explained, "the way they're built in so many layers." Metallic, multicolor ribbon prints and crocodile jacquards in glossy red or royal blue evoked the maximalist spirit for which India is known. But the clothes themselves—cross-draped shift dresses, skirt suits with round volumes, men's overcoats, boxy tops tucked into skinny pants—owed less to the subcontinent than to the city streets where the designers and their well-connected friends live. Their pals MIA and Delfina Delettrez Fendi, respectively, scored the soundtrack and made the show's jewelry.
The hits here will be a sweatshirt emblazoned with a third eye, and other pieces, like a bomber and wrap mini or a tailored coat that reproduced the motif on a smaller scale. "It's all about protection and warding off evil spirits," they said of the eyes. If anything, it seems these two live under a lucky star, but it's nice they're looking out for the rest of us.