Asian Designers You Must Know: Kenzo Takada

80s fashion was a mixed bag of styles, when you hear the 80s, you would immediately associate the decade with Madonna in lace leggings under a frothy tutu, a cropped and fitted bolero over a bodysuit bustier, and wacky hair. Colour was bursting out of every seam, reflecting some of fashions most horrendous colour combinations. Or, the 80s style might have been defined to you by the movie Flashdance… Amongst all the shocking-pink, leg warmers, frills, puffy sleeves, headbands, rosaries, and almost-cute lace fingerless gloves, we often forget about the more sombre silhouette of Comme de Garcon and Y’s.

A current of Japanese creativity rocked the fashion world in the 80s, challenging the tight, colourful and glamourous “ideal” that was dominating the runways of the time. Designers such as Issey Miyake, Kenzo Takada, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo introduced the fashion world to a brand new way of draping and dressing the female and male form.

First, let’s remind ourselves of Kenzo Takada.

Kenzo Takada 高田賢三

Many of you might know Kenzo more for the sinuous bottles of female fragrances, and perhaps his line of luxurious natural skincare, KenzoKI, or you might even be aware of his reappearance as a houseware designer and interior decorator under the brand “Gokan Kobo (“workshop of the five senses”) in 2005. Since Takada’s retirement as the artistic director of his own fashion house of Kenzo in 1999, this significant figure of fashion has some what trickled away from our fashion vocabulary.

Kenzo Takada was born in Himeiji City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan on February 27th, 1939. He quit Kobe University to pursue a career in fashion by enrolling to the prestigious Bunka Fashion College (Bunkafukuso Gakuin) in Tokyo as the first male student of the college. After gaining the design education he longed for, despite of his family’s disapproval, Takada took a six month trip at sea to arrive at Paris in 1964. There Takada worked as a freelance designer selling his sketches and creation to make ends meet. It was during this time that Takada developed his aesthetic for Kenzo. The iconic patch-work whimsy of the house of Kenzo was developed from thrifty fabric shopping at flea markets with the low sum of money the designer had in his early days in Paris. The hard work paid off in 1970 when Takada opened his first boutique Jungle Jap. The early collections of Kenzo was heavily influenced by elements of traditional Japanese fashion with easy, loose fit design produced by colourful fabric and this marks the introduction of the Japanese sensibility in fashion to the Western world.

Since the retirement of Kenzo Takada, the house of Kenzo has been succeded by Antonio Marras who has continued the vivid and whimsical ethnic chic as well as the attention to fabrics in his collections for Kenzo.

While maintaining some of the latest trends of Spring RTW (Ready-to-Wear) 2011 such as a relaxed fit, colour blocking and mix-prints. The show marked the 40th anniversary of the fashion house. Antonio Marras took this opportunity to draw pieces from the archives of Kenzo and drew inspiration from the Japanese traditions of yukata and kimono prints and patch work on ethnic inspired drape dresses, as well as tabi elements to add to one of the spring trends of the flatform sandal.

As we all know, no matter how beautiful the styling is on the runway, we can never just copy and paste the look into our daily wardrobe. Here is how I would suggest to interpret the Kenzo Spring RTW 2011 style palette.

• One of the key elements of the Kenzo RTW 2011 show is the pops of vivid colours beneath tops and dresses, unlike what has been seen all over the runways for Spring where designers have placed colour blocking as the primal theme.
• In everyday wear prints are always more difficult to incorporate into your outfits – so, instead of wearing a bold print, translate that element to your outfit with an accessory such as a cute little purse (or clutch! A clutch is one of the “It-bag” shapes of the season), or with a scarf.
• For a cheeky pop of colour, a bright solid colour bandeau under a sheer blouse, or a loose fitted racer back tank can be sexy yet adorable!

3 Things You Must Remember about Kenzo Takada

Attention to fabric – prints, patch work, colour…

Introduced the Japanese silhouette to the Western world of fashion

Kenzo Takada retired from the house of  Kenzo in 1999, so don’t point out wrong designers.

Stay tuned! Next up is Issey Miyake and his revolutionary technology based designs.

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