Kenzó Takada was born on February 27, 1939 in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, to parents who operated a hotel. His love of fashion developed at an early age. He became interested in reading fashion magazines that belonged to his sisters. He briefly attended Kobe City University of Foreign Studies, but after his father died during the first year of his studies, he decided to drop out of school against his family’s will.
–
In 1958, he enrolled at the prestigious Tokyo Bunka Fashion College, which had just opened its doors to male students. During his studies, he received awards in fashion design, but also experience working in the Sanai department store, where he worked as a designer and designed up to 40 women’s clothing per month.
–
A great inspiration for Kenza was Paris, the seat of all great fashion designers. His interest in this capital of fashion was also supported by his teacher at Bunce Chie Koike, who attended L’École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne.
–
In preparation for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the government demolished Takada’s apartment and provided him with some monetary compensation. With this money, Kenzó bought a boat trip to Paris.
–
But the beginnings were difficult. Kenzó had no reputation in Paris, so he sold his dress designs to large fashion houses.
–
Kenza show in 1982
Photo: Profimedia.cz
In 1970, Kenzó Takada met a woman at a flea market who wanted to rent him a small space in the Vivienne Gallery. Takada accepted the offer and opened his first author’s shop “Jungle Jap”. However, the name of the store caused controversy. The word Jap referred to Takada’s beloved Japan, which was not the most appropriate name for the American market at the time.
–
Kenzo then decided to create under his own name. Together with the then young designer Yves Saint Laurent, they presented the idea of a “ready to wear” collection. Until then, all established French fashion houses were only couture collections on privileged models in the environment of conservative salons.
–
In contrast, Kenza’s shows were full of color, dancing models in dresses dominated by ethnic elements and distinctive prints. At first, Kenzo didn’t have much money, so he worked with the “patchwork” technique, in which different types of fabrics are assembled to create a completely new one. This technique became iconic for him and regularly returned to his collections.
–
Kenzo with his fabrics in 1992
Photo: Profimedia.cz
Kenzó showed his sense of dramatic performances in 1978 and 1979, when he held his show in a circus tent, where beauty riders rode in transparent uniforms, and Kenzó himself rode into an elephant arena during the finals.
–
In 1983, he expanded his interest to men’s fashion. Five years later, he enriched his portfolio with the first perfume for women, and subsequently for men. The iconic bottle with red poppies can be seen in perfumeries to this day.
–
During his career, he presented countless fashion collections, which were a unique example of extravagant fusions between the Asian and Western European views on design and fashion. Takada tried to enrich European fashion with traditional Japanese elements, but he was constantly surprised by new and new ideas and unexpected clothing solutions.
–
In 1993, he achieved another great success, when the brand was bought into his portfolio by the French luxury accessories manufacturer LVMH of the French billionaire Barnard Arnault. It still includes the Kenzo brand to this day. In 1999, Takada announced his departure from the head of his fashion house.
–
This year’s Kenzo show
Photo: Profimedia.cz
He left the imaginary scepter to Antonio Marras. Designers Humberto Leon and Carol Limová were supposed to ignite a new spark in 2011 and they really managed to get the brand back in the sights of all fashion lovers.
–
After all, sweaters, sweatshirts, T-shirts and other items with a tiger print with an open mouth are a design piece that is known to almost everyone who is not indifferent to the world of fashion.
–
Since 2019, the brand has been led by Portuguese fashion designer Felipe Oliveira Baptista. Kenzó Takada himself has returned to the fashion industry many times to oversee collections or to participate in new smaller projects. In 2020, he founded the new lifestyle brand K3 and planned a major return to business.
—
