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PARIS (AFP, REUTERS) – Japan’s most famous fashion designer, Kenzo Takada, founder of global brand Kenzo, died in Paris on Sunday (October 4) after contracting Covid-19, his spokesman said.
Takada, the first Japanese designer to gain prominence on Paris’s highly competitive fashion scene, died at the American Hospital in Paris, the spokesperson said in a statement.
He was 81 years old.
His death occurs 50 years after he launched his first collection in Paris.
He retired from fashion in 1999, six years after selling his eponymous fashion brand to luxury conglomerate LVMH, and devoted his time to one-of-a-kind projects, including a designer collection earlier this year.
Takada brought a “burst of color and fresh creativity” to Paris in the 1970s, said the fashion news website WWD.com.
“I was a fan of the brand in the seventies when it started. I think he was a great designer, “WWD quoted Sidney Toledano, CEO of LVMH Fashion Group, as saying.
“I’m very sad. He was a great guy.”
Takada arrived in France from his native Japan in 1965 by boat, landing in Marseille before heading to Paris.
He had planned only a brief stay in the French capital, but Paris eventually became his home.
She created her first women’s collection in 1970, her first men’s show in 1983, and her first perfume, Kenzo Kenzo, in 1988.
Takada was especially known for his characteristic floral prints.
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