Without winning the battle with the new coronavirus, at the age of 81, the Japanese fashion artist and brand “Kenzo“creator Kenzo Takada, who with his view of the clothing industry gained recognition even in the fashion metropolis of Paris. Although the legendary fashion artist is no longer with us, he has left deep and lasting traces in the fashion world.
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Takada was the most popular Japanese fashion designer, whose name was heard far beyond the borders of the country. Kenzo Takada was born on February 27, 1939, near Osaka, Japan. After studying art in Tokyo, in 1965 he had the opportunity to move to Europe, as apartment buildings were demolished for the Olympic Games, where the legendary fashion artist once rented a home.
He had been dreaming of Paris for a long time, so the compensation money was used for a one-way ticket to France. At the time, Chanel and Dior’s victory march continued, but it only took five years for Takad to turn the eyes of the fashion industry from traditional fashion to the brilliance of oriental colors and bold prints.
With his ideas, he was able to gain sympathy in Paris, especially by highlighting colorful graphic and floral-rich fabrics. The news of the fashion artist’s death shakes the world 50 years after the appearance of his first collection in the spotlight of the French capital, writes “Prestige Online”. The bright and bold colors, as well as the unusual prints, inspired by travel around the world, were the reason why his debut with “Jungle Jap” became an instant sensation and brought him huge visibility almost overnight. It should be noted that this brand later evolved into the well-known “Kenzo”.
In 1970, Takada gained immense popularity as his designed clothing appeared on the cover of Elle’s edition. In 1983, Kenzo was added to the men’s fashion line, and after a while, sports and leisure clothing brands Kenzo Jeans and Kenzo Jungle were added. In 1976, he opened a luxury store, with his “empire” gradually growing and later adding a fragrance line.
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Takada retired in 1999, six years after selling his luxury brand to the LVMH Group, while continuing to work on individual projects.
Romantic style
Kenzo Takada was a supporter of the romantic style, and it combined unique color combinations, small touches of exoticism, as well as embroidery and prints from antiquity. This style was perfect for the seventies of the last century, but adapted even more successfully a few decades later.
He did not lack a source of inspiration, but mostly the ideas were borrowed from traveling around the world, undeniably – from Paris, often combining the current events of the fashion metropolis with the clothes of Japanese cultural workers and creating something unprecedented. If someone wore colorful scarves, striped scarves, floral blouses, a velvet with prints on the street, it was very likely that Takada’s design was eye-catching, because such clothes were called his hallmarks. It should be noted that the big challenge was followed by the next problem – there was no shortage of people who tried to imitate the famous Kenzo designs as accurately as possible.
Women’s body freedom
Many well-known names in the fashion world have expressed their grief over the legacy of the legendary fashion artist and remembered how Takada changed or affected their lives. Fashion critic Susie Menkes wrote that Takada continued to be an international symbol of fashion style even after the transfer of the brand. “I remember he once told me – I want to make ‘happy clothes,'” she said. “It meant creating something colorful, one that would allow a woman’s body to be free. Her collections embodied energy by intertwining colors and shapes in a lively way.”
Model Naomi Kempbel, meanwhile, highlighted Takada’s smile, the humble attitude she brought into the fashion world, and the positive emotions she gave to everyone she worked with on her Twitter account. “Rest with the angels,” she wrote.
Wyam Tang, a designer from Hong Kong, said in an interview with SCMP that he loved Takada’s designs because they were not complicated. “He didn’t try to be innovative. He used a lot of Chinese elements, historical prints, and the looks of both Japanese and Chinese farmers.” The designer pointed out that Kenzo Takada was a benchmark for him, who was the first to succeed in Asia. “He made history,” Tang said.
As of 2019 in an interview admitted the designer himself, he still attended various fashion shows, but today they have changed a lot. “Now it’s important to have a lot of people,” the legendary artist said. “Also, the shows are very short. Only 30-40 variants. The models don’t smile and people just take pictures, take pictures and take pictures. Everyone looks at their phones. When the show ends, no one really claps at all. They just take pictures. . “
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