At the Trianon last week, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim introduced what seems to be their justified fantasy vision of Japanese theater. Dubbed Collection Memento No. 2, it introduces the Kenzo look for Spring/Summer 2018 like an ode to travel – a tale founded on that of the founder Kenzo Takada, originally from Himeji but who dreamed of elsewhere. The brand’s creative directors perfected the story, the legend, and the vocabulary of one of the most dreamy brands in the fashion landscape. The result? A timeless connecting thread that plunges the essence of Kenzo style into the depths of the legends of Japan. “We wanted to breathe life into the dynamism of this legendary brand without turning our backs on its history,” they explained. And the founder himself had nothing contrary to say: “I don’t feel betrayed at all. Carol and Humberto applied the two main principles that have always guided me: not giving into fashions and working by instinct.”
The iconic look in this constellation of inspired silhouettes is an urban kimono in a Spring/Summer 2018 version. In an asexual fashion, the piece takes the original inspiration for Kenzo and pieces it together with the dreamy prints that were so revolutionary for their day. Bamboo, Jungle Jam – Carol Lim and Humberto Leon imagined everything in a more portable and urban vein. Kenzo fashion is fantastic, a colorful mishmash, and Lim and Leon want it to be the ideal attribute for cool kids of today.
Comfort, well-being, poetry – all of these values that were so near and dear to the founder have a more contemporary echo here. A mix between the label’s past influences and a touch of modernity, the designers took care to bring vintage pieces from the Kenzo wardrobe back in line with the times, such as the bamboo print that left its mark on many more than a decade before. Spring/Summer 2018 is thus perhaps an homage to the inventiveness and audacity of thinking freely – just like Kenzo.
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