- Strategic brand history analysis and cultural relevance context

Defining the concepts of “Luxury” and “Accessible Luxury”

LUXURY is “a state of great comfort or elegance, especially when involving great expense”. Whilst delving deeper into the topic, our group specified luxury to not only attain a certain brand perception, but the products must deliver a certain quality and standard with key indicative features. These features include craftsmanship, detail and a long lifespan. Along with these key features, a exclusivity and memory aspect is connected to these products.

In essence, luxury is a product pertaining to a certain value to the customer, based on quality, craftsmanship, availability and brand presence.

ACCESSIBLE LUXURY is defined as creating an offering of products to a consumer at a medium price point that still focuses on quality and craftsmanship. This sphere focuses on classical items that are usually offered in higher quantities than those of luxury goods, whilst still considering conscious purchasing and longevity aspects. The item and brand still have a strong storytelling/ DNA aspect and offer value products to a consumer base that is not able to purchase luxury goods.

[LIFE CYCLE 1: THE SHAPESHIFTER]

Kenzo developed as a response to the evolution of the new emerging woman in Paris, post war, which shapeshifted many social policy changes. These changes relate to the evolution of women’s rights in society and legalisation of employment amongst married women (Gari, 2018).

‘Jungle Jap’ was a dream brought to the woman by Kenzo Takada and his closest female compatriots - Atsuko Kondo and Atsuko Ansai (Gari, 2018). Inspiration for his collections developed from his early fascinations of fashion photography from magazines such as Sun and Himawari with early inspirations seen from Yves Saint Laurent and Helmut Newton(Sanderichin, 1999). Takada’s approach was inventive and unconventional, combining his cultural philosophies of Japan into the western status quo of fashion which was deeply saturated by Haute Couture in Paris (Sanderichin, 1999).

His runway presentations were celebrated for its unconventional nature, where each show had its own unique element such as circus venues, presence of animals at shows and unconventional models dancing during the presentations (Sanderichin, 1999). Kenzo’s first show was a reflection of the expectations and dreams suited by the immediate generation for ‘the Triumph of bad taste’ - the mixture of vibrant colours and fine prints along with traditional Kawaii elements (rabbit eared footwear). These elements introduced a refreshing new perspective to fashion in Paris (Sanderichin, 1999).

The Kenzo woman during this period represented a new face for societies - someone who was independent, liberated and took strong roles in the society and required garments that portrayed these elements.

The Kenzo woman during this period represented a new face for societies - someone who was independent, liberated and took strong roles in the society and required garments that portrayed these elements.

‘If I made one contribution to fashion it was helping to bring accessibility to it. What I did wasn’t exactly basic but it wasn’t couture either, but this was the time French fashion was all about couture. Creating a new market in a way at the time, you don’t realise what you might be doing is something new because everything is moving so fast’ - Kenzo Takada for his interview with Masui (Journal, 2019)

Due to the brand having strong historic associations with accessible luxury, Kenzo as the main actor is responsible to remain as a driving platform for these working women, which is translated as the foundation of the emotional carrier and opportunity for the brand.

INTUITION: A change in gender roles in society

GAP: Women were gaining a new role within society, the workplace doors began to creak open to them

OPPORTUNITY: Providing garments that where emphasising and facilitating this change in society

CORE: The revolutionary women

[LIFE CYCLE 2: THE COUNTERCULTURE]

Following Takada’s retirement, the house transitioned through multiple eras but did not find its commercial success under the creative direction of Gilbert Rosier and Antonio Marras (Menkes, 1999). During this period, Kenzo launched many brand extensions such as perfumes and skincare (Nightingale, 2021). In 2011, LVMH announced its appointment of Caroline Lim and Humberto Leon to revive the house due to the almost announced Chapter 9 bankruptcy by the group (Pourhashemi, 2013).

Kenzo regained its relevance within the accessible luxury market in 2011 through the shift of consumer habits. This specific consumer group were the early millennials born between 1992 and 1993 and were now stepping into their adulthood phase. This in turn resulted in identifying a new emerging market of accessible luxury with early weak signals such as ‘collaborations’, such as Kanye West and Louis Vuitton (Maoui, 2019).

In 2010, the financial crash left a large impact on the aggregate turnover of the fashion Industry. Brands such as Kenzo found its new anticipated consumer, where consumer habits became materialistic due to the rise in status which resulted in the logomania trend (Bohlen, Carlotti & Mihas, 2018).

The emergence of this new market resulted in a strong appeal towards a presence of logoed merchandise. This trend led to a rise in purchasing power which evolved into the streetwear segment. Initial competition in this sector consisted of the Anti Social Social Club and Pyrex, which in turn later saturated the streetwear segment. Due to this shifting perception in fashion, the designer duo adopted this lifestyle approach into the house with the introduction of the tiger logo sweatshirt which later found immense commercial success (Pourhashemi, 2013).

Along with this change in society and logomania, the beginning market segment of influencers developed, resulting in a strong presence and engagement with consumers through social media. These influencers became important assets to brands as they represented the DNA and core target market of a specific brand. This marketing tool fueled the appeal for the logomania trend.

Despite the lack of maturity within the sector, this served as their initial gap into the luxury market. The intrinsic motivations and the emotional carrier behind these consumers’ purchase behaviour in the luxury fashion market, was strongly linked with novelty, social positioning and status. This led to Kenzo moving away from the initial Shapeshifter model into a more stylised brand DNA. However, the brand stagnated with its merchandising selections as there was a large contamination of the Kenzo logo across its product portfolio.

INTUITION: A change in monetary status in society

GAP: The rise of younger audiences for the luxury market

OPPORTUNITY: Providing garments with visible branding within an accessible price point

CORE: The influencers

[LIFECYCLE 3: THE EXECUTIONIST]

The new era of Kenzo with Nigo as the creative director leaves consumers with much anticipation and expectations for the new brand intuition that the Japanese designer will introduce. Following Kenzo Takada’s departure, it is the first time that a Japanese designer is joining the house.

Nigo represents himself as the veteran of streetwear culture from the early 90s with the introduction of his brand, The Bathing Ape and Human Made. Artificial scarcity and collaborations fuelled his brand to gain recognition, allowing him to build a strong cult following in streetwear fashion today (Why NIGO at KENZO is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT | the state, 2021). Kenzo under the reign of the Japanese creative director will allow the brand to be more personal, inventive and unconventional; with LVMH providing infrastructure for growth.

Whilst preserving the roots of unconventionality with its DNA, Kenzo will potentially re-imagine a new perspective within accessible luxury through culture being the main driver. There will be a possibility to return Japanese cultural elements into the Parisian climates of fashion due to Nigo’s association with Japanese workwear and Urban planning in Tokyo (Why NIGO at KENZO is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT | the state, 2021).

At present it’s important to understand the relationship between both the Creative Director and the brand. Creative directors have an important role as they represent a face for the brand, which is further linked to the house’s tribe following. For example, with Demna’s entry in Balenciaga from Vetements or Matthew Williams from 1017 Alyx 9SM into Givenchy; where an initial tribe was built under the Creative directors name and the cult transfer was complimentary with the appointment.

New possible faces are mainly contextualised through his love for music such as Pharrell Williams, Slowthai and Tyler the creator (Why NIGO at KENZO is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT | the state, 2021). The dream would be to reinvent the wheel of the house through workwear but through a modern, more relevant context.

INTUITION: Equilibrium of roles in the society

GAP: There is a lack of personality and originality because we live in a world hyper linked through tunnel vision

OPPORTUNITY: Generate disruption through imperfection

CORE: The game changers