Kenzo Takada
February 27, 1939 – October 4, 2020
Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
Kenzo Takada, born on February 27, 1939, in Himeji, Japan, is one of the designers who most profoundly influenced Parisian fashion in the second half of the 20th century. Born into a large family, he developed a passion for his sisters' fashion magazines at a very young age, while initially studying foreign languages at Kobe University before abandoning everything for design. In 1958, he enrolled at the Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, which had just opened its doors to boys, where in 1961 he won the prestigious Soen Award and designed dozens of looks a month for a department store, already honing his sense of color and rhythm. In the mid-1960s, compensation for the demolition of his apartment offered him the perfect opportunity to travel to Europe, and he embarked on a long sea voyage that eventually took him to Paris, where he arrived on January 1, 1965. Initially disconcerted by a city he found austere, he was quickly captivated by its energy and history, and decided to make his mark there at all costs. He began by selling his sketches to major fashion houses, worked for a textile manufacturer, and then obtained a small boutique in the Galerie Vivienne, where he created his first collections by combining fabrics found at flea markets and the Saint-Pierre market. In 1970, he founded the Kenzo brand and established an immediately recognizable style, a blend of floral motifs, exuberant prints, free-flowing cuts, and influences from Japan, Africa, and Paris. His festive and theatrical fashion shows shook up the conventions of French ready-to-wear and captivated the international press, earning praise from Vogue America and presentations in New York and Tokyo as early as the 1970s. In 1976, he opened a department store on Place des Victoires, a symbol of his roots in the capital, and gradually developed a complete universe, encompassing both clothing and accessories. Throughout the 1980s, Kenzo Takada brought his vision into the everyday lives of an increasingly wider audience, launching menswear and childrenswear lines, as well as more accessible collaborations, all while remaining true to his distinctive style. He also ventured into fragrance, a field where his name became known worldwide thanks to scents for women and men that extended his poetic imagination. In 1993, the Kenzo fashion house was acquired by the LVMH group, ensuring the brand's continued presence in the world of international luxury. In 1999, he stepped down from the artistic direction of fashion to explore other forms of creation, from lifestyle design to product design, confirming his penchant for bridging cultures and disciplines. A naturalized French citizen, decorated by both France and Japan, he became an emblematic figure in the dialogue between his two countries. Kenzo Takada passed away on October 4, 2020, at the age of 81 near Paris, succumbing to complications from Covid-19, leaving behind a still-active fashion house and a joyful, colorful, and profoundly free vision of fashion.
