Designers

1970-1999

Kenzo Takada, a Japanese designer from Himeji was born in 1939 (Nast, n.d.). and passed away in 2020 due to COVID-19. Takada attended Bunka fashion college, Tokyo in 1958. His fashion interest developed from his sister’s fashion magazines (Borrelli-Persson, 2020).

In 1964, when Takada was in his mid-twenties, he made the decision to travel to Paris. Only having planned to stay for a short period of 6 months, he overstayed his stay and ended up living in the city for 56 years (History of Kenzo Fashion Brand | Kenzo Fashion History | Fibre2fashion, n.d.).

Kenzo had worked for multiple department stores and was therefore able to start his own brand in 1970. His brand at that time was called Jungle Jap which later on changed to Kenzo (Dirvanauskas, 2020). Kenzo introduced his label with womenswear designs and 1983, introduced menswear.

LVMH bought the brand in 1993 and Kenzo Takada retired shortly thereafter in 1999 (Lane, 2020). The designer was known for his introduction of colours and playfulness within the brand’s designs.

2000-2004

Gilles Rosier is a Paris based, creative director focused on fashion design and space. He has performed creative consulting for prestigious clients such as :Balmain, Dior, Guy Paulin, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Lacoste and Kenzo (Mame Editore, 2021).

Rosier is known for his personal collections and projects along with managing the fashion design sector at École nationale des Arts décoratifs de Paris ( Eternel Parisien, 2020).

Gilles worked under Kenzo Takada before the designer’s departure. Following the departure, Gilles replaced Kenzo as creative director of the brand (History of Fashion Designer Giles Rosier, n.d.). In his time as creative director, he introduced a skincare line.

2004-2011

Antonio Marras, an Italian designer, was the third creative director under Kenzo. Marras was initially appointed in 2003 as the womenswear designer and was later appointed as creative director (Coretti, 2019).

The focus of the brand in the Asian and European market was determined by the designers performance. Marras was known to be extremely creative and had a clear vision for the brand. In the time he spent at Kenzo he was able to achieve positive sale growth within the brand (Wall&decÃ2 | Antonio Marras, n.d.).

2012 - 2019

Humberto Leon and Carol Lim were appointed as new Creative Directors of Kenzo in 2011 (A, 2012). The pair studied at the University of California in Berkeley. Former to joining Kenzo, Leon was the Design Director of The Gap and Carol as a Management Consultant at Burberry (BOF, n.d.).

The pair are owners of a multi-brand boutique named ‘Opening Ceremony’. Developed on the idea of the olympic traditions that cultures come together, a key aspect that is recognised in Kenzo (BOF, n.d.). The duo are well known for the introduction of fashion collaborations and self-branded collections.

Leon and Lim are recognised for modernising Kenzo, introducing streetwise shapes, vivid jungle prints and cultural references (BOF, n.d.). The duo also re-imagined the visual communications aspect of the brand and focused on digitally-driven campaigns (BOF, n.d.).

The duo resurrected the label’s tiger graphics and used Kenzo Takada’s archives in a sub-brand called Kenzo La Collection Momento (Yotka, 2019). Highlighted successes are the H&M collaboration and the introduction to biannual film projects (Yotka, 2019).

From 2019 to 2021

Felipe Oliveira Baptista joined Kenzo on 1 July 2019. The designer was born in Azores and graduated from Kingston University, London (Felipe Oliveira Baptista joins Kenzo as Creative Director, 2019).

Prior to Kenzo, the designer founded his own label that was known for its conceptualism and sensualism. During his time at Lacoste, he initiated a series of innovative limited editions (Felipe Oliveira Baptista joined Kenzo as Creative Director, 2019). Felipe is well-known for his personal attachment to diverse cultures, along with his modern and innovative approaches (Felipe Oliveira Baptista joins Kenzo as Creative Director, 2019).

The designer focused on making real, desirable clothes that were lacking in today’s fashion. During his appointment, the designer chose to not focus on scalable streetwear pieces but focused on wearability, something Kenzo Takada felt passionate about (Felipe Oliveira Baptista joins Kenzo as Creative Director, 2019). Bold silhouettes and lively colours were core elements in his designs at Kenzo (Felipe Oliveira Baptista joins Kenzo as Creative Director, 2019).

Felipe stepped down as creative director on 30 June 2021 (Felipe Oliveira Baptista joins Kenzo as Creative Director, 2019).

From 2021 to PRESENT

On 20 September 2021, Nigo was appointed as new Creative Director (Nigo’s appointment, 2022). Born in 1970 and attended Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, the same college as Kenzo Takada; graduating in 1970 (Rowley, 2022).

He is widely known for his clothing label that was created in Tokyo 1993, that made huge strides in changing global street culture (Nigo’s appointment, 2022). Nigo works simultaneously in fashion and music and innovates his work to relate to its audience (Nigo’s appointment, 2022). His career-changing collaboration to date is with Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton.

Important brands that Nigo has founded are Bathing Ape, Billionaire Boys Club, Ice cream and Human Made (NIGO: What to Know About the Japanese BAPE Founder, 2022). These brands were highly celebrated through world-renowned collaborations.

LVMH hopes to see the rejoicing of the brand’s roots and iconography in the new designers appointment (NIGO: What to Know About the Japanese BAPE Founder, 2022).