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The designer from Japan died in a hospital in France at the age of 81. “Paris today mourns one of her children,” writes the mayor of the fashion metropolis.
Kenzo Takada in front of a self-portrait in Monaco in December 2014.
Photo: Eric Gaillard (Reuters)
Fashion designer Kenzo Takada has died at the age of 81 in Neuilly, near Paris, from complications of a Covid 19 disease, French news agency AFP reported on Sunday, citing a Kenzo spokesperson. Takada came from Japan, but spent most of his career as a designer in the glamorous fashion metropolis of Paris. His first name became a world famous brand.
“Kenzo Takada died on Sunday, October 4 in the US hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine from the consequences of Covid-19,” the agency quoted a statement from the spokesperson. “What a designer!” Wrote the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, on Twitter. Kenzo gave a place to color and light in fashion. “Paris is in mourning today for one of its children,” said the socialist.
The designer sold his brand in 1993 to billionaire Bernard Arnault’s French luxury group LVMH. In 1999, the fashion designer finally retired. Ten years later, he had his art collection with around 1,300 pieces auctioned for just under two million euros.
From Tokyo’s department stores to the world of Parisian fashion
Kenzo created his fashion empire from scratch. He arrived in France at the age of 25 in the mid-1960s. At that time he landed with a ship in the southern French port city of Marseille, and then traveled to Paris. The graduate of the renowned Bunka Gakuen fashion school in Tokyo initially thought of a limited stay in the metropolis, and he stayed forever.
Kenzo was not the only foreigner in the world of Paris fashion. Karl Lagerfeld came from Hamburg, became “Kaiser Karl” on the Seine and died in February 2019. Kenzo was considered the first Japanese to make a name for himself in the harsh Parisian industry.
He designed his first collection 50 years ago, in 1970. At the time, he ran the boutique called “Jungle Japonaise” in a historic gallery in the heart of Paris. In 1976 he moved to a larger location in the nearby Place des Victoires and founded the brand under his first name. In 1983, Kenzo established a mainstay in menswear. The men’s perfume “Kenzo” followed in 1988.
The fashion designer was born in Himeji on February 27, 1939 in the Osaka region. He began his career as a stylist in a chain of department stores in Tokyo.
