Free- spirited fashion designer famed for jungle- influenced designs
KENZO TAKADA Feb. 27, 1939 - Oct. 4, 2020
Kenzo Takada, the iconic French- Japanese fashion designer famed for his jungle-infused designs and freespirited aesthetic that channeled global travel, has died. He was 81.
The family said in a statement to French media Sunday that Mr. Takada died from complications from COVID- 19 in a hospital in Neuilly- sur- Seine, near Paris. A public relations officer for Kenzo’s brand confirmed that Mr. Takada had died but didn’t give a cause of death.
“It is with immense sadness that KENZO has learned of the passing of our founder,” the fashion house said in a statement. “For half a century, Mr. Takada has been an emblematic personality in the fashion industry — always infusing creativity and color into the world.”
Though Mr. Takada had been retired from fashion since 1999 to pursue a career in art, Kenzo remains one of the most respected fixtures of the high Paris fashion scene. Since 1993, the brand Kenzo has been owned owned by the French luxury goods company LVMH. The current designer and artistic director, Felipe Oliveira Baptista, unveiled Kenzo’s springsummer 2020 to fashion editors Wednesday.
“His amazing energy, kindness, talent and smile were contagious,” Mr. Oliveira Baptista said. “His kindred spirit will live forever.”
Kenzo’s styles use bold color and clashing prints and were inspired by Mr. Takada’s travels all over the world.
“Kenzo Takada has, from the 1970s, infused into fashion a tone of poetic lightness and sweet freedom which inspired many designers after him,” said Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH.
Kenzo Takada was born on Feb. 27, 1939, in Himeji, Hyogo prefecture, Japan to hoteliers. After reading his sisters’ fashion magazines, his love of fashion began.
After studying at the Bunka College of Fashion in Tokyo, Mr. Takada had a brief stint working in Japan before relocating to Paris in 1965 to work as a freelance designer.
In Paris, he took over a boutique in 1970 that crystallized his future ready- towear aesthetic. It was inspired in its decoration by the jungle scenes of painter Henri Rousseau, which he merged with Asian styles. It became influential.
But it was lowly beginnings: Mr. Takada’s first collection at the store called was made entirely out of cotton because he had little money. But the clothes spoke for themselves, and a model of his was put on the cover of Elle magazine. A short time after pioneering shoulder forms, large armholes, dungarees, smock tent dresses and innovative shoulder shapes, his store was featured in Vogue. Kenzo showed collections in New York City and Tokyo in 1971.
Yves Saint Laurent was an important inspiration in his work, Mr. Takada said.
Mr. Takada shared Saint Laurent’s penchant for theatrics. In 1978 and 1979, he showed his work in a circus tent; the exhibition featured performers wearing seethrough uniforms and riding horses and Mr. Takada himself atop an elephant.
Mr. Takada’s love of travel and use of ethnic influences were strong features in his three decades atop his house.
His contribution to style was significant. He championed a youthful aesthetic and unstructured form, and he did away with zippers to liberate silhouettes. His signatures were of wider sleeves and arm holes that harked to historic styles in his home continent of Asia.