Lucky Me? Lucky You: KENZO’s first standalone womenswear show in eight years sees Artistic Director Nigo burrow deep into Maison’s storied archive to create a collection as spirited and playful as a den of bunny rabbits in love. Drawing on Kenzo Takada’s unparalleled knack for expressing joy through a lens of exacting luxury, the pop ingenuity of Andy Warhol, and Nigo’s own globetrotting, parameter-shifting journey at the forefront of design and style culture, the collection comprises an eclectic play of contrasts. Unexpected sartorial registers clash, reimagining the KENZO girl anew – colored by youthful cheekiness, confidence, killer attitude, and play.
Like bunnies nest as families, a keen sense of community underpins both the collection and the show. Hopping down from the fourth-floor atelier – the Maison’s proud, beating heart – girls in exquisitely hand-wrought looks file around 18 rue Vivienne’s stately 17th century salons to a dynamic, era and genre-warping mix of 90s hip hop, punk, and disco. Perched on the tastefully homely array of furniture pieces curated by Nigo, you are invited to feel as at home in ours as you would in yours. The furry friends you’ve brought with you are, too.
Silhouettes and textures
Textural juxtaposition informs this season’s template, with masculine wardrobe archetypes artfully styled with decidedly feminine flourishes. Nigo’s extensive personal archive of Savile Row tailoring endures as a reference for KENZO’s suiting. Double-breasted grain de poudre tuxedo blazers with velvet shawl lapels figure in an elongated ‘boyfriend’ fit, as does a kimono jacket with tonal satin trim. A squared-off khaki green silk bomber jacket and felted lime green duffle hoodie with frogged closures are dramatically cropped, implying a sense of impulsive customization.
The sharp formality of this season’s tailoring is effortlessly counterposed by the casual flair of louche Japanese selvage denim jeans, softly pleated carrot pants, and the freeform billow of ballooning pants in diaphanous crepes. The lingerie-like delicacy they suggest is pushed further by peekaboo silk satin camisole slips that serve as a fil rouge, elevating the collection with an ingénue feminine frill.
Patterns and motifs
KENZO’s proud heritage of bold graphic expression becomes a key narrative vehicle, with renderings of the collection’s twin protagonists – ‘Lucky Me’, a lovestruck, powder pink buck, and ‘Lucky You!’ a wily, baby blue doe – seen bounding across the collection. Inspired by a 1979 sketch by Kenzo Takada, the boisterous bunnies are translated as cheeky screen prints, precise embroideries, and even painted motifs on daring flashes of bare skin. They even come to life on the runway, first as a fluffle of bunny rabbits on a hand-crafted vest and later as floppy-eared hooded jackets in baby blue and pink teddy bear plush.
Camisoles feature whimsical floral prints lifted from archival KENZO swimsuits – their romance offset by graphic pops of chessboard check – while pastel gingham Harris tweeds nod to Nigo’s abiding appreciation of heritage English fabrics. Elsewhere, the country’s countercultural sartorial history is alluded to through punkish khaki tones. In a touching acknowledgment of the KENZO atelier team, housed on the fourth floor of this very building, a cotton-linen snow parka is hand-embroidered with the rainbow autographs of each of its members in the style of a vintage college leaver jacket.
Accessories and details
Nigo’s legacy as one of streetwear’s great pioneers is subtly yet adamantly nodded to in the crystal pavé detailing on the buckles of leather belts – one bearing the Maison’s name, the other, the Artistic Director’s moniker in katakana script. A collaboration with New Era proffers a capsule of 59FIFTY fitted caps embroidered with a cutesy illustration of the collection’s central storyline – as well as an Easter egg hint at its soon-come developments – and the collection’s atelier member autograph treatment.
Bags come in a singular shape: a compatible bowling ball bag in satin featuring tonal leather trim, shirred handles, and delicate ribbon bow detailing, echoing the lingerie textures that run through the styling. The collection’s anchoring footwear silhouette is revived from the KENZO archive and reinterpreted: a slingback mule slipper in leather, satin, studded denim, and glossy ponytail, reimagined with a quilted satin inner.
Across the collection, the devil lies in painstaking detail. Buttons throughout are hand-carved in tonal mother of pearl, sunglasses are adapted from Japanese reading glasses, and the linings of this season’s tailored jackets are constructed to the exacting specifications found on Savile Row. The selvage seam on Japanese denim pieces is finished in ‘Lucky Me!’ pink, with a wink-and-nudge heart motif figuring on the inner fly – there just for you (or a lucky lover!) to discover.
18 Rue Vivienne
Nigo invites the Maison’s friends and family into KENZO’s historic home to celebrate heritage and community. A place of deep sentimental value to both the Artistic Director and the house, the 17th century hôtel particulier has been originally reinterpreted in the manner of an archetypal haute couture salon, outfitted with a precise curation of furniture pieces directly selected by Nigo. As an expression of his longstanding reverence for architecture and interior design, the set relieves the collection’s elevated eclectism. While الموضة shows may be serious affairs, we invite you to feel at home here – to tuck into Studio Cario Dario’s artfully arranged tablescapes and raise a glass: to Lucky You, to Lucky Me, to Lucky Us!
