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Japanese designer Kenzo Takada, a victim of the new coronavirus, died this Sunday at the age of 81. He was admitted to the American Hospital in Paris.
Born in Himeiji, Kenzo became interested in fashion at an early age by reading his sister’s magazines. At 18, he went to Kobe University to study literature. Unlike his parents, he dropped out of the course and went to study at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo. According to the English “Vogue”, he was one of the first male students to be admitted.
After winning the university’s prestigious Soen Award in 1960, she went on to work in the Sanai department store as a women’s fashion stylist, creating up to 40 looks a month. In 1964, Kenzo left the East for the West and settled in Paris. In the French capital, the revolutionary fashion of André Courrèges was his inspiration to create some 30 pieces, and five were accepted by the French designer Louis Feraud (1920-1999).
After visiting other department stores, the designer opened his first store, in 1970, Jungle Jap, in Gallerie Vivienne, where his first fashion show also took place. The following year, his work appeared on the pages of American “Vogue.” A mark. In 1983, he launched the first men’s collection. In 1988, he launched his line of perfumes for women to the market; the first fragrance for men arrived only in 1991. Today, the flagship is Flower by Kenzo, launched in 2000.
In 1993, the Japanese sold his brand to the conglomerate LVMH, the same that controlled the powerful Louis Vuitton and Dior. In 1999 he announced his retirement, leaving the direction of the brand to his assistants. Later, the Italian Antonio Marras assumed the creative direction of the label, being later replaced by the duo Humberto Leon and Carol Lim. “Kenzo as a brand has such a rich and fascinating history that it can be difficult to determine what exactly we have changed. Our new collections, we hope we have injected the brand with a youthful spirit and a sense of fun and daring,” said Leon once to the British “Vogue”.
