A delightful anachronism hides in Paris’s Bastille neighborhood. Amongst the Haussmann-style façades that dapple the streets, a grove of juniper and maple trees conceal an entirely different kind of home.
The four-story abode, designed by the late Japanese-French fashion designer Kenzo Takada and his partner architect Xavier de Castella in the late ’80s and completed in 1993, is not easily categorizable. With its teak facing, traditional tatami floor mats, and Shoji sliding doors, it adopts the transparency of Japanese design, but the sloped ceiling louvers made of French oak belie a sense of space that feels entirely European. Takada envisioned the home as an oasis, a breath of fresh air from the whirl of city life, but it was just as frequently the stage to showcase his new designs and host elaborate parties.
This encounter between intimacy and exposure made the storied abode the perfect place to stage Kenzo’s latest collection, designed by its current artistic director Nigo, during Men’s Fashion Week. Just like the home, the collection, unveiled on Jan. 21, deftly layers Japanese and Americana reference points. A kimono is reimagined as a tailored navy blazer. T-shirts and cardigans emblazoned with a varsity-style ‘K’ are paired with a flat lace up shoe, recalling the mid-century Japanese craze for American Ivy style. Even the presentation’s soundtrack, John Lennon’s Power to the People, nodded to Kenzo’s tasteful merging of influences.
Nigo, who has been with the house since 2021, envisioned the presentation as something of a homecoming. He transformed Takada’s former library into a makeshift archive, which showcased the collection’s vintage references through sketches, editorial, invitations, and vintage garments. Some of the new collection’s designs, like a colorful Kite bag taken from a 1986 Kenzo collection or a color blocked suit designed by Kenzo in 1991, were recreated wholesale. Others, like the floral embroidery from a pair of organza skirts first shown in Kenzo’s Spring/Summer 1994 collection, have found their way onto pearl snap cowboy shirts and red ballet-inspired slippers. A smattering of flannel plaids and large checked knits against a backdrop of neutrals and Prince of Wales wool keep the collection buoyant and playful.
Perhaps the most instructive piece is a wool coat, striped in hues of goldenrod, taupe, cream, and ecru. The caplet dangling from the jacket’s shoulders, with its tassels and whipped blanket stitch at the hem, has the uncanny resemblance of a well-loved family quilt, wrapped around one’s shoulders after a long day away.
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