Kenzo reinterprets its own history with the appointment of A Bathing Ape founder, Nigo, as artistic director. The first Japanese designer to lead the house since Kenzo san, the godfather of streetwear is guided by an almost cosmic synergy with the Parisian house: beyond a shared heritage and education at Tokyo’s Bunka Fashion college, Nigo mirrors Takada Kenzo’s disruptive approach to design. Just as BAPE imprinted as one of the first truly global streetwear brands, Takada brought an Eastern aesthetic to European sartorial tradition when he opened the first Kenzo store on Galerie Vivienne in 1970, the year Nigo was born. Celebrating Takada’s legacy, English tailoring and American workwear, Nigo’s vision for the house reimagines iconic graphics from the Kenzo archive; Takada’s own sketches from the 1970s are recreated on relaxed wearable silhouettes and practical accessories.
